Social networking or social media is heading towards a more business friendly environment. The bigger social media sites were generated with the individual in mind. The features of the current social media networks may not only be ineffective for businesses but also detrimental to developing strong business contacts. These social networks may cause businesses to lose money because they may be too open for businesses to use for everyday business.

A business networking system must be close ended. For a business social network to be effective, it must be like a real Rolodex. When a business meets another business for the first time, they do not want to show off their whole Rolodex on the first meeting. Unfortunately, this is how most of the bigger social networks have built their platform.

Most of the users can see each other in their "friends" and "followers" areas. This can cause some businesses to lose their competitive advantage based on the relationship they have with another one of their business associates. For example, a business may have spent months searching for a wholesale distributor of a certain product. This distributor may be delivering that product at an unbelievable discount that the business can use to generate a great amount of revenue. It would not make sense for a business to reveal who that distributor is to everyone they meet. However, this is exactly what happens in most social networking sites. The full contact, "friends," and "followers" list is revealed to anyone who becomes a friend or follower of a business.

Generally, any update that any person makes on the regular social media networking systems will push down the updates from any other user (this includes other business entities and potential consumers). This fact alone can mean that a business may miss an important piece of information from a vendor or even a client who wants to make a buying decision. Any information by any person can and will be pushed down by any update in the major social media networks and this is a massive problem for businesses. A business needs a clean social network where contacts cannot see each other unless designated by the business and the stream of communication can be controlled to the point where only pertinent information is seen by the business and not mixed with personal information from personal contacts.

A business owner will likely own more than one business. This means that having one social media or social network profile is not an option for most businesses. Every business needs to be treated as a separate business and have its own profile. This allows a business to avoid a phenomenon called "piercing of the corporate veil" where a business is legally associated to each other by not properly maintaining the borders between two or more businesses. This means more assets can be at stake when a company has legal troubles. Having separate accounts for social media can be very useful for this boundary between businesses and avoids future problems that have to do with litigation.

In the future, social networks will be created with business use in mind and personal use as an afterthought. This change will allow businesses to make better use of the social media systems and allow them to have different profiles and keep contacts from seeing each other on the systems. These businesses will be better prepared for developing contacts through the internet and create a global marketplace that is better suited for the needs of business owners everywhere.

Scott Buendia consults for Bizbuilt.com. All the views and tactics in this article are tactics and ideas of the author; they do not necessarily represent the ideals, beliefs, or trademarks of Bizbuilt.com. Visit his card on Bizbuilt here.

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Social networks are fond of telling you how many friends or contacts you have. That just appears to encourage "contact farming" where people try and get to the top of a list for the number of connections they have amassed. "I've got more friends than you," people appear keen to say. Some business people even promote the need for you to get as many contacts as possible, citing serendipitous examples of people who met online and discovered a joint interest which led to them becoming multimillionaires, or some such fantastical notion. Others, meanwhile, suggest that it isn't the quantity of contacts you have, but the quality of the people you are really connected with.

Chasing numbers is a fruitless task, really. You may become top of the charts for your town in terms of the numbers of friends you have, but do you actually, honestly, know all of them? For some people, yes, they know everyone in their contact list, but for others their list of followers or friends is so huge, they have no chance of knowing them all.

The Dunbar Number is the theoretical limit of the number of friends you can really connect with; it is 148. Essentially, if you have more than 148 followers on Twitter, or more than 148 Facebook friends, or more than 148 connections on LinkedIn, then you cannot possible know them all. That's the theory and there is some limited evidence which supports this notion in terms of online social networks.

New research, however, adds a twist to the "numbers game" on social networks. Researchers at Michigan State University looked at the notion of "social capital" and online social networking activity. Social capital is basically what we feel we get out of our social groups. Imagine you have a group of close friends, you meet regularly and you discuss how you can all improve your businesses and careers. You might feel you get a great deal out of that group. But you also have another group of people you meet regularly, perhaps parents at your child's local school. You meet them once a week, but you feel you get less out of them than your business friends. The parental group has less social capital than the business friends group.

So, the researchers at Michigan wanted to know was there any difference in the social capital depending on the strategies people followed on social networks. Some people connect with anyone, building up quantity rather than quality. Whereas others focus on sharing things with their contacts.

The study found that the greatest social capital was found amongst the sharers. In other words, you get the most out of people on social networks who share the most with you.

If you want an online strategy for your business this has a clear message - share stuff, share more stuff and share even more. The more you share, the more you will be valued.

Graham Jones is a psychologist who investigates the way people use the Internet and how people shop online. His research can help you make the most of the Internet, particularly if you are hoping to make money online.

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New social networks are surrounding you on a very regular basis. Sometimes it is difficult to know which ones are worthwhile for your business and which ones are not. Don't compare them to a large network, such as Facebook.

Just because a social network is new and relatively small doesn't mean that it isn't valuable and that it won't be advantageous for you to be a part of it. Many times, companies are connecting with niche social channels, depending on the types (and quality) of interactions that are taking place. If the results are good, you should seriously consider being a part of some of them.

Some of the new ones that are worth considering are Pinterest, Houzz, Tumblr, IntoNow, and PlayUp. Each one focuses on something different and as a business owner, you need to decide which one (or ones) are right for you. It is definitely advisable to do your research before you sign up for any of them. Before you move ahead in full force, you may want to start small by posting something as a guest so that you can see what kind or reaction from the readers you receive. If you find that certain small social networks are working well for your business, you should then create more of a presence there so that you can start to interact with other people.

There are some fundamental questions that you should ask yourself before you sign up for any of the social networks.

Are the members of the social network that you are considering also members of your target audience?

If you do some research, you will be able to establish whether your target audience is involved with that particular network. If your goal is to engage with specific people (who are either prospective or current clients), it is important to understand how important the focus and quality of the network is to you and your business.

How much time and effort are you planning to devote to that particular channel?

As you are aware, in order to make social media work effectively, you need to put time and effort into it. Before you start interacting, you need to figure out (and commit to) how much time and effort you plan on investing. It is important to remember that you will need to put more effort into it in the beginning. Once you have laid the groundwork, you may not to devote as much time and you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. It may take you between 10 and 12 hours to create a new profile, write and post content on the new social network, and start to really make your presence known. If you see that particular network is good for your business, you may want to devote more time to it than you would otherwise. In many cases, you will get out what you put in.

How will you be using this particular social network?

Before you get started, you should figure out exactly why you want to be involved with that particular social network. Once you have established that, you will have a clear understanding of exactly how you will need to approach it so that you get the most out of it for your business. It is very important to bear in mind that if you are working with a small social network, your results may take longer to show up than if you were working through a large social network (such as Facebook). Of course, that doesn't mean that you won't realize positive results. It just means that you need to have a little more patience.

Will the chosen social network exist in a few years?

There are many that people have started and have not been able to succeed at. A great deal of factors go into whether a social network will have longevity. It is important that the network constantly makes efforts to improve and offer new and exciting innovations along the way. It is a good idea to have a wish list before you get involved with any social network. This will help you to determine right away if that particular network that you are considering is right for you and your business.

Conclusion

New social networks can be deceptive at times. They look very appealing when they are new and you may think that you should get involved; however, make sure to do the research so that you don't waste time later. In addition to connecting with new (smaller) social networks, you should always keep abreast of new offerings within the social networks that you already have profiles for. Social networks are here to stay and it is up to you to figure out the right ones for you and your business. If you ask the questions that were presented here, you will be able to make informed decisions that will help you in the beginning as well as along the way.

We are pleased to provide you with the insightful comments contained herein. For a free assessment of your online presence, let's have coffee.

Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has over 25 years of experience in IT and web technologies. Mr. Cohn spent a significant amount of time at a major telecommunications company, where his main focus was on initiating and leading synergy efforts across all business units by dramatically improving efficiency, online collaboration, and the company's Intranet capabilities, which accelerated gains in business productivity. He also reduced company travel and travel costs by introducing and implementing various collaboration technologies.

His expertise includes business analysis; project management; management of global cross-matrix teams; systems engineering and analysis, architecture, prototyping and integration; technology evaluation and assessment; systems development; performance evaluation; and management of off-shore development.

Mr. Cohn earned a Master's degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master's degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.

Mr. Cohn is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

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A business person should always have a social network on hand because it allows them to sell anything on demand. All of business owner needs to sell products or services is an Internet connection when they have built the list on the social media platforms. This is a massive plus because most business owners do not know that they can sell things through the Internet that quickly using the list that have they generated through the social media platforms. This is a massive speed advantage that most businesses do not have. This speed is a major advantage for a business owner that has taken the time to develop their expertise with the social media platforms.

Another reason that a business owner or a business person should have a social media network is that they always have the best advice available to them from their network. This is because the network is made up of people who are their peers and have experiences developing their own businesses. Therefore, they are good sources of advice for the business owner to use in their own business. There is no better way to advance of business then to stand on the shoulders of people who have already done the same thing and are willing to help the business owner achieve business success with them. Therefore, a business person should always focus on developing a network of people that they trust to help them develop their business as fast as possible.

Lastly, the best reason to use the social networking campaign is that it allows a business owner to watch the trends that are happening in their industry. The truth is that things change every day for every business industry. Therefore, it is smart to have a network of people who are watching all these trends and report them back to the business owner. This might be the best reason to use the social media network platform because of the ability of the platform deliver new news to the business owner at a high rate of speed. This high rate of speed will allow a business owner to identify a trend long before it becomes trendy. This knowledge will make the business the first on the market when an opportunity arises. Being first on the market is a big advantage because being first on the market means that any product that is released afterwards only serves to remind the target market of the first product. This means that when a competitor realizes that this trend is an opportunity for them to make money it is already too late. Being first on the market is always an advantage for any owner. Therefore, having a social media campaign that reports on the trends before the happen is a very good thing to have.

In conclusion, a well-made social media networking campaign is the best thing that a business owner can have in their arsenal to allow them to dominate the competition. A well-made social media campaign will deliver money and results into their bank account. Therefore, any business that does not have a social media presence needs to develop that presence ASAP. All it really takes is finding someone who is skilled in the social media platform to teach him or her how to use the platform to its maximum effect. Any business should not hesitate to get a social media profile going today.

Scott Buendia consults for Bizbuilt.com. All the views and tactics in this article are tactics and ideas of the author; they do not necessarily represent the ideals, beliefs, or trademarks of Bizbuilt.com. Visit his card on Bizbuilt here, https://www.bizbuilt.com/socialmediaprivacy.

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Many have turned to using online social networks as a part of their business development strategy and for good reason! Marketers have come to recognize that social networking online is a very effective strategy in terms of growing a solid foundation for their businesses!

Here are 3 important components every internet business development strategy needs that can be supplied when using these sites!

Link Building

One of the things social sites can do for any internet business is to build links with other individuals and organizations! Having incoming links from an assortment of origins on the internet helps boost the search engine rankings of your own site! This typically translates into more free traffic which is highly targeted and of course the best type you can get! Plain and simple, having move inbound links thereby places more attention on your site and is another reason social networking online is an effective strategy for marketers!

Branding

Establishing an online brand is something that helps you become more competitive since it makes you 'stand out' from other marketers! The need to be easily recognizable is a must in the very competitive internet environment! Building yourself a brand will help you do just that and this is typically done by 'reinforcing' the identity you've chosen as often as you can! When any marketer engages in social networking online, this simply creates another 'venue' in which they can build and establish a brand! Remember, these communities can be very viral in nature which is why they are so effective for brand development!

Traffic Generating

We spoke above about how link building helps increase the search engine traffic you receive! Another source of traffic you can expect would be not only members of the sites you are working but also people who have been referred by these members! The viral potential offered when promoting on these sites is significant if you consider that site members likely 'belong' to other sites as well! Much like an onion that has many layers, there is no telling where on the internet your links may end up! Harnessing the incredible powers of viral marketing should always be an objective of every internet business development strategy!

Online social networks are being more commonly used as part of many marketers business development strategy and with great results! Although social networking online does require an emphasis being placed on relationship building it has proven to be a very effective strategy! The 3 components every internet business needs are reviewed above and can be acquired when social networking online! This helps to explain the popularity of this very effective strategy and why you should consider included this approach in your own marketing mix as well!

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina.

For more tips about promoting your business at online social networks and to also receive a free instructional manual that teaches valuable niche research techniques for your online marketing needs simply visit: http://affiliatequickstart.com/

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Social media is list building to the nth degree. If you are smart about it and realize how to use hash tags, then you can do some damage and learn a few things along the way. Other than that, social media is completely useless other than to entertain you.

List building is one of the keys to internet marketing. Another key that must people ignore is list market research. It is hard to enter a market and know what is about and if there is actually a market for you. It is especially hard to guess your USP is going to work in the market place. Therefore, it is smart to enter the market and find out if there is a market for the product or service you will deliver through social media.

I wrote about how marketing is less about getting more eyes on a message and more about repelling people who should not do business with a business. That is absolutely true because most companies spend too much time talking to people they shouldn't be talking to in the first place. Most companies front end lead generation system is cold calling. Although this can be effective, it tends to eat a company's resources. It would be better to qualify leads then send them to the closers. The set up should not be done by phone callers it should be done by front end marketing.

The advantage of this type of system is that the customer is educated about the process the company uses to get results. There are a few marketing guru's who says that revealing the process yields better prospects because the prospects understand the system but do not have the time or the desire to do the job themselves. They would rather pay someone to do it so they can focus on what they are good at doing which is doing the technical areas of their business. Therefore, they have the money and they won't get in the business's way when it comes to executing the strategy laid out before them.

Therefore, social media makes sense to test a message because it is a free way to find out how responsive the market is before developing a product. Many hours and several thousands of dollars can be saved by proper use of and understanding of social media as a front end lead generator.

However, a company should never expect to automatically turn out clients from social media. Social media is about relationships, therefore, it will take awhile to yield results for the system. Just like anything worth doing, it will take time to generate pleasing results from a social media system.

A company should take their social media efforts seriously even before they start to develop a concept of the product they wish to develop. This one action can help protect a business from losing money for months and years to come. Social media has a lot of the answers that a business seeks. A business should always look to these systems before investing any money, and they should always try to build a list that converts.

Scott Buendia consults for Bizbuilt.com. All the views and tactics in this article are tactics and ideas of the author; they do not necessarily represent the ideals, beliefs, or trademarks of Bizbuilt.com. Visit his card on Bizbuilt here, https://www.bizbuilt.com/socialmediaprivacy.

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What are social networks? These are simply websites that are meant for people who wish to form friendships around all forms of topics imaginable for the purpose of sharing ideas and disseminating information. This will exclude pornographic and other material that promote hate, sexual and racial discrimination and other types of negative content unsuitable for children. Of course, the websites I shall recommend, have their terms and conditions you will do well to read and follow strictly to the letter in order to be accepted and remain a member.

For the newbie affiliate marketer, it is imperative to understand and master the fundamentals of using the internet as an affiliate before venturing to invest money to take you to the next level of this exciting work. The beauty of affiliate marketing is that you require very minimal capital to start. First you will need a computer connected to the internet. Many people are simply not aware of what magic the internet is. That is why we are said to be living in the information age. However, and disappointingly so, many of my countrymen (South Africa) still live in the industrial age, or post middle ages.

When you write an article and post it on a an article directory or post content on a blog website, you can make use of RSS for your content to receive more than the minimum exposure on the web. RSS stands for; 'Really Simple Syndication'.

Here is how it works in simple layman's terms. Open up accounts with several social networks. It is free to do so. Here are some of the websites you can be a member of:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
MySpace
Digg
Mixx
Delicious
StumbleUpon
Reddit

These social networks are some the most popular on the net and there are many more. There are also new ones springing up all the time. These websites have hundreds of millions of visitors every day, three hundred and sixty five days a year. Each of the above sites have their own unique feed icon. After posting a blog post to a site such as Blogger.com for example, you will click on all the icons for the different social networks you subscribe to, and your content will be fed to all these sites automatically. In actual fact, this means you could write and post content on a blog and have it potentially ready to be read by dozens of millions of internet surfers world wide at the wink of an eye.

The potential to share ideas and disseminate information is phenomenal. Once you can master these basic skills, and are prepared to learn, then you can make a handsome passive income for yourself.

Retired English and History teacher. Self development enthusiast and affiliate marketer. To learn more you can visit my website at: http://mphojanelebokoinformationexplosion.com/page_-1.html

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Get the like

If we can quantify anything from the efforts of Social Media managers these days, that is probably the number of "likes" they try to increase day by day. This represents the number of people who visited your site, and chose to receive your updates by pressing the "Like" button. These people are now your Fans. (I don't know if they are still referred to as Fans, but I am trying to be as old-school a possible. Before we go into the deep concept of how to make your Facebook page more like-able we need to understand why Social Marketing agencies fight for these people who "Like" the page.
What Fans bring to the company

Believe it or not Facebook Fans are an important asset to any company. Many case studies prove that company fans are more likely to visit the store, tell other people etc... But I would only like to stress the most recent one. Facebook fans have 50% bigger intent to purchase than non-fans. Pretty useful info for everyone involved in social media don't you think. But of course on Facebook, decisions are made in matter of seconds. So the question is: How to get people to like your page in that brief split of second they pay attention to your brand? How to get the Like we so much need?
How to be more Like-able:

Small guide

1. Optimize and integrate the cover and profile photo with the company communication message. Your Facebook page is suppose to enforce the brand, not be a non-integrated, insulated marketing effort.

2. Include calls to action in your posts. "Limited time only", "Get it now", Subscribe", "Call us today" are going to engage interaction more than regular posts.

3. Don't spam. Fans will feel it, unlike, and hate you. And I will be very, very disappointed.

4. Stay positive. You are going to have some unsatisfied customers every once in a while commenting on your wall. Keep your cool, don't get into arguing and offer to help them. That's how you beat the annoying jerks.

5. Don't require too much effort from your customers. If you have some active social media campaign, don't ask them for too much info. And don't expect them to take too many steps to participate in some campaign that quite possibly, you wouldn't enter if it wasn't yours.

6. Don't sell on Facebook. Nobody likes to read sales pitches, especially when they are logged in primarily to read about their friends updates. Believe it or not people don't log into Facebook to read brand commercials and pitches.

Any additions to this list? Any comments? Please feel free to post them in the comments section.

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It is thought that the extremely popular app Instagram gains a new user every single second. The app has only been in existence for a couple of years, but it has definitely been making waves ever since. Recently acquired by Facebook for a staggering $1billion, and used by more than 40 million people (as of April 2012), could Instagram become the most popular photography app of this year's Olympic Games?

It certainly seems as though it might be: already, if you visit Twitter, you can search hashtags such as #torchrelay and #londonolympics and see a significant number of relevant Instagram photos. There is even an official Olympics' Instagram blog, which suggests that the app could well be one of the big ways to capture and share the experience of the upcoming 2012 Games.

More than a billion photos have been uploaded to Instagram so far, and every day, upwards of five million new photos are added according to an infographic on the Digital Buzz blog. That works out at 58 photos being uploaded every single second. And, when we consider just how prevalent smartphones are starting to become and the likelihood that plenty of people will be interested in sharing their experience of the Olympics, it doesn't take a huge leap of the imagination to realise that a lot of those people will be sharing their experiences through Instagram.

The one thing that might limit Instagram use during the sporting spectacle is the fact that ticket holders are being deterred from sharing any photos or videos they might take while watching Olympic events. Under the 'conditions for ticketholders', they are only allowed to use their photos for personal use - so that means no sharing through Instagram or other social media platforms.

However, despite these restrictions, there is nothing to stop people outside the Olympic venues sharing pictures through the app. After all, more people will be celebrating the event at home or in the pub than at the Olympic stadium; there are still plenty of opportunities for sharing. Businesses might also decide to utilise Instagram during the Olympics. To name just one example, a competition for the best Instagram picture of an Olympics party could be used by businesses to engage with their audience.

Overall, even though there are some limitations on sharing photos through Instagram during the Olympic Games, it still remains one of the most popular apps out there; the fact that it is social by nature suggests that it could well be the hottest app of the Olympic period.

Punch Communications is an integrated SEO, PR and social media agency. To discuss your online PR needs, visit http://www.punchcomms.com/.

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Wherever you look online these days you cannot move for smiling people. There they are in social media profiles, in headshots on websites and in images shared on the likes of Pinterest or Flickr. All around you people are smiling. But is that a good thing? Should you smile online as much as you do? Could a smile cause a problem for your website?

When people smile they increase their positive brain hormones, the endorphins. And when we see someone smile, we find it hard to avoid smiling ourselves. Smiling is infectious. So if you smile on your website, the chances are the visitors to your site will also smile. You could then trigger their mirror neurons to come into action and feel as happy as you are. All positive stuff; why wouldn't you want to smile on your website?

Well, according to new research, you might not want to smile if you need people to think you are older than you are. Psychologists from Germany have discovered that we underestimate the age of people who are smiling. When we look at a picture of someone smiling we tend to say they are younger than turns out to be the case. Overall, it seems we are pretty poor at estimating the age of people, unless their facial expression is neutral - when we tend to get it right.

So, why might you want people to estimate your age from your profile picture? Imagine you are a young software developer - smile and in the instant people land on your website they could think you are too young to have done the things you claim. Or what about the older person who is using LinkedIn to try and get a new job? Have a neutral picture and people could say "oh, she's too old for us". But smile, and they' will underestimate your age, making the chances of the job a little bit higher.

It therefore means that one picture for your all your social media profiles and your web pages is simply not enough. You need to think about the impact you are trying to create and whether or not you want people to get your age right, or think you are younger.

Once more, this research shows that we really need to focus on the fine detail of what we present on our websites if we are to have the desired impact.

Graham Jones is a psychologist who investigates the way people use the Internet and how people shop online. His research can help you make the most of the Internet, particularly if you are hoping to make money online.

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A lot of people today are suffering and dying from chronic illnesses brought about by stress and unhealthy way of living. That is why there are a lot of men and women nowadays who are also trying their best to achieve a fit and healthy lifestyle in order to stay away from these unwanted ailments. And because of these, people who are into businesses have innovated their systems so as to meet the new and growing demands of people. Right now, green and organic menus as well as natural fruit shakes are available in a lot of fast foods and restaurants.

In addition to this, gyms and other health clubs have started showing in different locations since more and more people are eager to eliminate their stored fats and tone out their flabby muscles. Now there is nothing wrong in starting a gym business; however, with the multitude of them already existing, the competition between one gym to another is getting tougher. Thus, in order to stay afloat in this competitive world of business, gym owners and managers should come up with an effective fitness marketing plan to keep their fitness centres on the run.

Advertising a business is not as simple as it sounds. In fact, it needs a lot of logical thinking and intricate planning in order for it to be highly effective. And what better way there is to have a successful fitness marketing tactic than to have your very own list of ideas? Here are some important things to consider when you are planning to improve the sales of your business. It was mentioned before that having a plan is rather important since this is going to guide you in reaching your ultimate goal, which is to make your growing business big. Keep in mind that your scheme should be realistic and applicable to your location. And by this, it means that you should carefully analyse which particular group of audience you are going to target and how are you going to catch their attention.

One effective way of roping a crowd is to host an open house wherein potential clients can look around your place and be aware of the equipment and facilities you have. Other than that, you can also make use of the internet and post an advertisement. Facebook and other social networking sites are popular places to put an ad since you can practically reach out to anyone. What makes this even more amazing is that creating a Facebook page for your business is not going to cost you even a single cent.

These are only a few gym marketing ideas but all of these are very much effective. If you want to know more advertising tips, you can always do additional readings from different journals and internet sites.

The author writes for http://marketingforgyms.com/ which provides information regarding Fitness Marketing.

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You've created your Facebook business page and now you are wondering how you can use it to increase your sales. The most important thing you need to do is take consistent action to increase the number of fans you have. Your goal is to get people interested in you, talk about you, and click that LIKE button on your page.

Here are a few tips on how to increase the number of fans you have on your Facebook business page:

1. Go to your page and click Build Audience at the top. There are different options there for letting people know about your fan page: invite e-mail contacts, invite friends, share page, or create an ad. Word of warning: Creating an ad costs money and is not recommended without preliminary training.

2. Create a business newsfeed. To do this, change into your business persona by clicking the down arrow at the far upper right-hand corner of your personal Facebook page. Click on your business page listed under the heading "Use Facebook as."

Now go to the search box and type in a search term for your business niche. Look at the listings that appear under the Pages category. Click on those fan pages where you believe your ideal prospect hangs out. Click LIKE on those pages.

Now when you click Home and view your newsfeed while in your business persona, you will see status updates from these pages. When you find an update that interests you and that others are commenting on, join in and make your own comment. Make sure your comments are seen as helpful, funny or supportive. People will see you posting as your business page name and may decide to check you out.

Tip: Please note that in order to post comments in Groups, you have to be in your personal Facebook persona. I hope Facebook changes this in the future so you can choose to interact in groups as your business persona.

3. Make sure you are posting on your fan page 1 to 3 times a day. If you post less frequently than that, the Facebook algorithms won't show your post in the newsfeed. Your Reach and Edgerank will be low. Hint: posts with visual elements such as video or photos are more likely to go viral. Remember that people on Facebook want to be entertained.

Content Tips

To attract people to you on Facebook, you must engage them. Offer valuable free information they can use. Ask your fans questions they feel compelled to answer. People have a short attention span so make it brief.

And don't forget that entertainment is key for social media. For example, I started the Monday morning laugh where I post real police reports from a small town in Montana. Present yourself as a real person who can help others and people will respond to you.

After a frustrating 10 years of trying to build her network marketing business the friends and family way, Jeannie discovered the power of the internet. She now has 473 customers.

She loves to help others in the network marketing industry learn how to market online.

Check her out at http://www.facebook.com/jeannielongmlmmarketing

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Door to door sales sucks. It sucks so bad, the people wont take that job even thought they have never done it before. The only people who manage to make that work are people who can be denied a million times then rebound off one sale. The majority of us already know that the million times we get a door slammed in our face, or a dog chase us, or a physical threat is enough for us to try another approach.

Hello, my name is Conner, and I have found out first hand that dogs can run fast, door slams do hurt my feelings, and physical threats make me want to stop. I don't know about you, but I am a fan of doing things the easy way.

Lets figure out why everyone should take their marketing skills to the amazing Internet! The first thing you learn while trying to bring people into your business, is that over 99% of people don't want to know about anything you have to say. The learning process is a slow, and long one. You attempt to make a simple sale, with your only teacher is the sting of failure. If you get lucky then you will have a mentor helping you fail, until you eventually get one. Or you burn through your contacts list and get stuck. Once again long and slow.

If you did learn how to master your sales skills, you have to spent time talking to people individually. Even a master at sales will still get rejected almost every time. To master this skill you have to repeat the process many times. This is a very time-consuming process.

This skill is a very important one to learn. But you don't want to waste it on out dated tactics. You will want to experience the power first hand! You will want to make a video online, and have a million leads piling up begging for your offer. You will want to master one sales skill and talk to 100,000 people a day. But you want to do this all, on auto pilot and sleeping while this happen. That is right, you won't have to talk to them individually.

That is the power my friend. Master your sales skills, combine it with the internet and share it with the masses.

Facebook hit over seven million people a while ago. Just with one website you can target a large part of those people. Imagine hand picking your customers. Hand picking the people who are interested in your offer. Having the power to succeed faster in your business than anyone else before you. This is why you want to market online.

The bottom line, money. Lots and lots of it.

Interested in marketing your business online?

http://connerhogan.blogspot.com/

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To boost our site's traffic, we promote our site and encourage users to subscribe to us. We put in links of our social pages and persuade users to register on our sites. In giving so much importance on building relationships, we tend to create so many social pages for our brand and have them all embedded on our sites. In this way, we likely to overwhelm users.

Always bear in mind that users subscribe to us because they are interested in our content. So, too many social pages links on our site would not get us followers if we don't have content that would interest them the most. Here are some tips shared by Rand Fishkin, CEO and Co-founder of SEOmoz.org, in improving social and subscription calls to action.

1. Limit Your Subscription Choices and Don't Overwhelm Users

Not all social networks can effectively drive users to your site. Identify which of your social pages can best serve their purpose. Choose only two well-performing social pages to be embedded on your site. After identifying your best social pages, embed them only at a single side of a page on your site. Having the links and icons of your social pages, inviting for subscriptions, cluttered on your site could get you less subscriptions as your repetitive links disgust users.

2. Promote Subscription at the Right Time

Know the right time for calling to action. For instance, for a blog post or product offering, it could be better to offer subscriptions or products at the end of your content. Having users reached the bottom of your article could likely denote that you have them engaged throughout reading your content as they scroll down your page. Off course, it's a bit illogical to ask users to subscribe or buy a product prior to reading your content. They should comprehend first your content and benefits they might get from what you are promoting before subscribing or making a purchasing decision. If they get interested in your content or find your product worth their money, then they might subscribe or buy your product.

3. Customize Your Calls to Action Image/Button

Standard calls to action (CTA) graphics are now becoming trite as they look the same in hundred of sites. It's better to have customized CTAs for these have better chances of getting noticed by users. By customizing, you can design unique images or graphics on which your brand is accentuated. You can also add clever messaging on them to make them stand out all over the web. Having your signs get easily noticed by users boosts the possibility of having them subscribed to your site.

4. Create and Fulfill Expectation

If your CTA promises users of getting more updates about new trends in SEO by subscribing to your site, then you should be fulfilling that promise the soonest time after they sign up. Or else you will not only lose subscribers, but also put your credibility at stake.

5. Present Relevant Social Proof

Determine what social proof is relevant to your site the most. Then, put this on your pages. You may follow other experts in their social media accounts. Or you may subscribe to sites of importance to your niche or with high page ranks.

6. Make Your Subscription Process Dead Simple

A less complicated way of subscription tends to please users. If you're going to ask for more information from them before confirming their registration, they will less likely finish the subscription process.

7. Eliminate "Noise" from Your Social Media Channels

Your subscribers may get annoyed if you're going to flood them with tweets, status updates, or e-mails. Too many updates within the day can make your conversion or engagement rate strategy less effective. So, it is better to send fewer messages to your subscribers through your social medial channels if these updates are of high quality or interest to them.

8. Know Your Social Media Channel's Return on Investment

Know the benefits you're getting from each of your social media pages. As mentioned earlier, not all social networks can serve you best. An effective social network to others may not work well for your site. So, it is really important to identify which among your channels drive more users to your site and create high engagement. Then, give priority to your most effective social media channel.

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Google+ has made a mark in the social networking space. Definitely, Google+ is going to compete with Facebook in the social networking space. This article tries to answer how Google+ is different from Facebook. Reports, indicates that Google+ account base has already crossed the 1 million mark, in the first 16 days of its launch. This figure should have increased many folds by now.

What makes Google+ so popular? In my opinion, one of the outstanding features of Google+, is the concept of circles. In fact, it is nothing more than the "groups" concept available in Facebook. Google+ enables, the management of groups easier and natural. The concept of organizing groups as circles is very thoughtful. It is very difficult in Facebook, to organize your friends in groups.Using the circles concept, Google+ has provided an intelligent solution to this complexity.

Hangout feature is another innovative offering from Google+. Using this option, we can hold a video conference with all our friends at once. But Gmail also provides the capability of video chat. How is hangout different from this? Gmail video chat does not have the capability of video conferencing multiple participants. Hangout provides this flexibility. It has the intelligence to identify the speaker and can switch focus accordingly.

The integration of media on Google+ is very appealing. Photos are large and captivating when they come through your stream. The entire interface looks great.

Another nice feature provided by Google+ is the Instant Upload.Use Instant Upload to automatically save every photo you take with your phone to a private album on Google+. With the android phone user base increasing day by day, this feature is going to attract a lot of users to Google+.

Google's much promised product "Google Wave" failed miserably because people didn't really know what it was or how to use it. The reasons were very bad user interface plus poor marketing. Google+, plays it safer by mimicking, the already proven and established universe, of social media tools like Facebook, Twitter etc. In fact Google+ is a new Facebook with additional features and a simple, quick to use GUI.

Hangout may be the feature that gets the most attention and draws users to Google+. In fact, it is an awesome feature and hats off to the Google+ team in bringing this feature. But Facebook is not sitting idle. Facebook is coming up with a feature similar to Hangout in collaboration with Microsoft. The game is on.

In my opinion, both of them has enough user base and both will coexist in the social networking space.

PremKumar is a Software architect and consultant. He has over 12 years of experience in the IT Industry. He is passionate about internet, mobile phones, and computers. He invites you to visit our website below http://pickadvice.com/

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New changes and features on everyone's Facebook page around the world may have brought some initial shock and confusion among Facebook users, but the timeline also brings new and exciting opportunities to explore. Your business would probably benefit best from the Facebook milestones and photo cover features. Ride with the waves, don't fight them, and you'll be alright.

Follow the Wave

Certainly, major brand names have jumped successfully into the new Facebook Timeline bandwagon, and looking back, they can only be proud of themselves continuing through transition and coming out a winner. This innovative format change is also good news for smaller brands and small to midsize companies in several ways.

These clever ways and techniques discussed in this article regarding milestones and the cover photo will help your brand or business survive the Facebook game altogether. Many big companies are growing their brand names already, making whale waves on Facebook. The results depend on your enthusiasm to compete and stand out above the competition. A great vision for unique milestones and a creative cover photo that needs to engage both visitors and prospects alike, will certify your brand recognition.

Considering that the visual layout is a priority for the new Facebook Timeline features, let's explore creative opportunities your business can take advantage of through Facebook with milestones and the photo cover design feature. Since the changes in this world bring new beginnings, now would be the best time to try something entirely new for your business, and Facebook offers just that.

Share Life Events and Highlights of Your Brand or Company

Think through adding interesting milestones for your business. In any case, this will bring your business much closer to your visitors and prospects since they will have a good idea of how life events and highlights transpired. Such milestones would be much better if say, your business has a good history to share. A good example of a company that uses milestones effectively is Skittles and its founding story. The company takes pride in their remarkable and interesting history.

They reveal it all, including how everything evolved from beginning to present time in a well-organized manner through this new, particular feature. Using milestones helps users and fans alike understand the highlights of your brand or business. Milestones work exactly like life events on profile pages. Simply, click the milestone button on your timeline to add one, starting with the date you or your company was born. You have the ability to customize the milestone with specific type, a description, and exclusive image.

Important Milestone Components and Creative Human Connection

For best results, apply quality images with high-resolution, sharp focus, and good lighting. The milestone display size is 843 pixels wide by 403 pixels long. Harness the real magic behind the milestone feature. Incorporate more than just events, like grand openings or new product launches; add exciting photos displaying company parties, guest or public appearances or VIP's like your kids, mentors, and experts.

Freshly written unique content combining infotainment, are important components of the marketing effect to gain more eyeballs for when you post milestones. These varieties of visual stories are an essential human element to your Fan page that your watchers are able to appreciate and engage.

In your case, you can be creative through your businesses' product releases and everything accomplished so far. Since the Facebook Timeline feature is all about the impacts of visual content presentation, you can achieve best results if you can tell an engaging story to follow your featured photos. Whenever you add new photos, you automatically have a slot for posting. Users love seeing photos with a good story attached.

Cover Photo Terms and Creative Design Ideas

Even though the Facebook Pages terms and conditions address that no one can have contact information, calls to action, promotions, or pricing information, Facebook made it easy for companies to embrace other eye-catching copy and creative design, such as:

Professional tagline or motto that describes what your business is aboutAn influential word that symbolizes your brandThought-provoking quoteNames of individuals in your photo coverProfessional photographer tributesExclusive rights to image

Pictures are a compelling technique to build emotions, so paint a picture for users to remember. A Fan page's cover photo ought to express the spirit of the brand. Use superior pictures, designs, and photographs that are crystal-clear, contain composed color and correct lighting, or utilize image-editing software (like Photoshop) to enhance your pictures. You can plan anything you want, for instance a life size collage or apply a unique giant, attractive snapshot. Be sure to take into consideration the cover photo shape when developing your masterpiece.

Use the profile icon for your company logo, or make it noticeable somewhere. There is no need for extra graphics in your profile icon. If text usage is the plan, ponder its position when choosing images.

Here are a small number of image content ideas proper for cover photo brands:

Happy customers that regularly use your products or services (get permission)Popular productsAwards wonPersonnel workingBusiness ownersRecognizable vector graphic

Conclusion

Let's review, Facebook features enable companies and brands to take control of their milestones and unique photo cover design. Companies all over the world are taking advantage of the opportunities. Delivering the best quality work is worth the time and money considering both of these features represents your brand.

A recap, by incorporating more than just events with your milestones and providing creative design elements correctly, a company can establish themselves as a unique brand with fans and users alike. Take time to map a plan that integrates both your milestones and photo cover in a delicate fashion.

I hope these tips help you gain more engagement and more fans. Think about how you want to represent your brand.

Brandon Espinoza is a passionate social media expert who loves to share his Internet marketing knowledge with others. For more information and education about Facebook for Business or Facebook for marketing tips that produce non stop traffic, see more at this Facebook Book site.

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Jonathan Budd is making one of the most exciting announcements in his life on July 16th, the launch of Futuristic Marketing, a comprehensive training program teaching all his marketing methods. Budd describes it as a summation of his life's work. Budd spent 18 months of his life preparing for this moment. Budd time meeting with business leaders, private equity, and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, before coming back with so much knowledge sharing with the marketing community. The main goal is to show business owners how to generate thousands of leads from Facebook. After all, we all know Facebook is the largest social networking website in the world with great potential to build your business.

The Futuristic Marketing Test

Video one for the Futuristic Marketing debuts with not really a video, but more of a quiz, called the Futuristic Marketing Test. It is a quiz that can be taken in three minutes or less. You will be tested on your mindset skills, traffic skills, and conversion skills. Based off your rating, the quiz will predict what type of money you can make on the internet. This will really be a valuable testing and assessment feedback to all business owners.

The quiz and accompanying video contain some cool animation videos for your entertainment. After finishing the quiz, you will read your results and learn some new marketing tips on the Futuristic Marketing custom launch blog. Your test results will be highlighted within the blog content under video one.

Increase your Marketing skill set.

Facebook marketing can be effective because of the large amount of users and even more important, the amount of time each user spends on Facebook. Jonathan Budd teaches that time on a site is a reflection of the value users are getting from the site.

You will learn how to set up Facebook pay per click ads that convert. The difference between advertising on Google and on Facebook is ad fatigue. Here is why. Google ads are targeting your search query. Facebook ads are targeting you. This means you see the ads quite often and the novelty wears off quickly. You will learn how to freshen up your advertising.

Influence Your Audience

The second thing you will learn is how to engage with your audience. You need to create a fan page that is your headquarters for interacting with your new fans. You will post content, photos, and even videos into the webpage. Here is a fact. Facebook is least effective when it comes to diect sales. Facebook gives you an opportunity to build an ongoing relationship with your customer and that is Facebook's strength: building relationships. Even Facebook advertising managers tell you that their social platform is perfect for building ongoing relationships and remarket to your customers. The goal is to friend users before you sell to them.

Leverage Your Time

The third and fourth component relate to included software. You will learn how to craft and schedule automated webinar presentations. You can leverage your time by reaching your fan base any time during the day through the use of a webinar system. This gives you time to practice your presentation until it is perfect and record it. You can then reuse your best presentation over and over again in the automated system.

Imagine the ability to log into your Facebook account and click a few buttons inside your Facebook fan page to start a marketing campaign for your latest offering. You will also be able to create an app capture software designed to help collect names of people who showed an interest in your product or service.

The wait is almost over, The Futuristic Marketing Test and video series training from Jonathan Budd begins shortly.

Take the Futuristic Marketing Test and learn how much money your business could make on the internet with your current marketing skills. A team of trainers will cover in detail the best methods of Facebook pay per click advertising, the proper landing capture pages, and the use of automated webinars to build a relationship with your audience to a point that they trust you enough to become a customer. Futuristic Marketing reviews, special offers, and detailed information about Jonathan Budd can be found at http://www.futuristicmarketingjonathanbudd.com/

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Many people have included online social networking in their business development strategy however this approach does have flaws! This is not to say you can't grow your business by using this strategy but these social communities do present certain challenges such as the 3 discussed below!

Too Much Activity

One thing you're bound to notice at any of the many social communities found on the internet is the level of activity is fast and furious! There is typically so many different conversations being held simultaneously' which makes these sites great for people looking to socialize! All anybody needs to do is simply take note of what others are talking about and find a conversation that is of interest! For marketers, this level of activity however can create a challenge since there are so many 'distractions' to compete with in order to get a persons attention!

Time Consuming

As just mentioned above there are many distractions to contend with at most of the social communities! The most prudent and advisable approach for anyone in a situation like this is to subtly 'ease' your way into one of the discussions! The key to doing this is to 'blend' in with others and contribute, in a constructive manner, to any conversation you're trying to become a part of in order to be heard! This approach takes time and patience however which is something you may not have when trying to grow your business! The fact is this, building relationships is about the only effective strategy you can implement when using sites like these as part of your business development strategy! There's no way around the fact that trying to promote anything in online social communities does take time which can be a problem for many marketers!

Unfocused Traffic

These communities attract a cross section of people with varying interests which is great for socializing but horrible for marketing effectiveness! Trying to generate traffic at these sites does take patience and even when people do link to your site, many have little interest in what you offer! In many cases the folks who do land on your site are doing so simply because they are curious but not necessarily interested!

Online social networking can help you grow your business but typically NOT in proportion to the time you must spend working in these social communities! Our discussion of certain challenges this particular business development strategy presents above points out 3 obvious inefficiencies! The message here is that although social communities do hold potential for increasing sales, the time it takes to do so could be better spent elsewhere!

TJ Philpott is an author and Internet entrepreneur based out of North Carolina. For more tips about online social networking and to also receive a free instructional manual that teaches valuable niche research techniques for your online marketing needs simply visit: http://affiliatequickstart.com/

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The best experience with social networking for business would allow a business to generate contacts in revenue more quickly than it would take in person. The only reason a business should engage in any activity is that the activity will generate an opportunity for the business to make more money. Social media or social networking is no different. A business should only engage in social networking or social media if the activity generates revenue for the business. Any other use of social networking or social media will not help a business achieve their goals.

Social networking or social media is a new form of communication between two parties. Those two parties could be a business to business or a business to consumer situation. However, social media allows these two parties to meet and have a conversation that is mutually beneficial for both parties. This is really how business begins, and social media can be the fastest way for a business to communicate with its vendors or consumers. The use of social media can significantly speed the ability of a business to communicate with those vendors or consumers. Therefore, social networking for business purposes can help a business generate more revenue almost on demand.

However, a business that uses social media or social networking should be able to hide its contacts from those people who should not be associating with each other. For example, a business does not want their consumers speaking with their vendors. A conversation between a consumer and a vendor can lead to a business being cut out of the transaction. This loss of the transaction leads to reduce revenues for a business. The ability of a social network to selectively choose who a "friend" or "follower" can see is very important when a business uses social media or social networking. A business should expect a certain amount of privacy built-in to the network so that they continue to do business profitably and without the worry of being cut out of transactions.

Another thing a social network should be able to do is to allow file sharing across members of the community. The ability to share files can be a major distinction between a social media platform that works for business and a social media platform that does not work for business. The ability to file share is very important because changes in policy and direction of the business can be made very quickly.

Presentations can also be changed on the fly if the right files are available to the presenter using a strong network built for business. This file sharing should be protected as well. As there are certain members of the community who do not need the information or should not have access to it. The best experience in using a social network is for that network to provide the right security to enable a business to do business on their terms.

The best experience with a social platform for business will allow a business to create more revenue and have secure sharing of information with those parties that should be privy to that information. The ability to set permissions for communication and file sharing is very important in social media, especially in business. A business needs to select the right platform that will allow them to generate more revenue and have secure communications across all lines.

Scott Buendia consults for Bizbuilt.com. All the views and tactics in this article are tactics and ideas of the author; they do not necessarily represent the ideals, beliefs, or trademarks of Bizbuilt.com. Visit his card on Bizbuilt here.

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1. reciprocal action or relation

2. a mutual exchange of commercial or other privileges

When introducing new customers to the concept of social media for business, many customers want to approach social with a tremendous caveat of full control and minimal reciprocation. This opens a can of worms, because the entire point of social media and Web 2.0 culture is to create a web of reciprocity - a mutually beneficial and rewarding relationship that allows businesses, customers, peers and others to connect, communicate and listen in a welcoming space. Businesses reluctant to reward fans or followers with a connection or acceptance creates the same kind of barriers that are experienced in traditional advertising - the corporate monologue that says "we are speaking and you must listen and obey."

This is not social media. Social media is just what it sounds like - socializing with others who have found their way onto the internet. This relatively new way to communicate requires a mutual relationship - if someone is reaching out, they most likely expect you to return the favor. You don't have to listen to everyone on the internet, but giving your online friends a gesture that tells them you're listening can help give your business a positive reputation online. Alienating potential fans by refusing to extend a hand in return could create some ire among your fanbase.

Before you think about diving into the social stream, ask yourself a few questions to get yourself on the right path:

How connected do you want to be to your audience? Honestly - Ask yourself this a few times to determine how involved your company wants to be online, because once you dive in, there is a certain level of commitment required to maintain that presence and manage your reputation properly.
Do you prefer avoiding or ignoring bad reviews? Honestly - Many companies say they welcome criticisms, but when the time comes, they are first in line to click delete. Which company type are you?
What would you do with criticisms and feedback from your customers? Honestly - If a customer offers their less-than-favorable opinion, what will you take from it? Will you use that feedback to better tailor the customer experience? Will you set the feedback aside and continue things the way they've been going?
Do you have an interest in really getting to know your customers so you can offer them better services and products? Honestly - Do you care about your customers needs, wants and desires? Do you want to ask them questions about life, hobbies or other topics that are meant just to connect and not always sell?

If you've looked at the above questions and feel prepared to connect, welcome. Social media has been waiting for you! If you're still on the fence about the level of commitment involved in connecting socially online, I recommend you sit back and think about the pros and cons of both use and avoidance before investing any time or money on social media.

Danica Jones is the Social Media Director at Quantus Creative Internet Marketing, a tech start-up located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been active in social and online communities for over a decade and counting and enjoys helping customers discover the magic of Web 2.0. For more questions about how Quantus can optimize your online presence, call us at 918-794-2758 or visit http://www.quantuscreative.com/ today!

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