Internet Marketing, Web Design, SEO, Web 2.0 Optimization
Posts tagged social media
What is the difference Between Social Networking and Social Media?
107 months ago
One of the greatest things about the new Web 2.0 is that the web is no longer just a place to go get information; it is alive and full of two-way interactions. Since it has made the transition into a social web and allows for so much interaction there can be great confusion regarding terms that we have become accustomed to hearing on a daily basis. Two terms that we hear used a lot both in marketing and outside of marketing platformsare Social Networking and Social Media. Many use these two terms interchangeably but they are not synonymous.
Social Networking
Social networking is basically an online social community. This can be on a strictly personal level, but it can also be a large part of business and internet marketing strategies. There are many social sites on line where people with common interests can share thoughts, ideas, plans or chat about life’s occurrences. Web users build online communities around a common interest. Coming together within a social network can revolve around limitless topics. A social network can be tied together around simple friendship, kinship, or financial exchanges, religious beliefs or virtually any type of shared interest. Basically, a social network is built by creating a page or a group and allowing the exchange of conversation or information about the interest that is shared. Social networking can be accomplished through the use of social media.
Social media is a very broad term that includes a wide variety of media vehicles. It is the “how” of how we socialize on the new Web 2.0. Social media is the vehicle we use to share information with our social network. Social media includes all of our social networking sites like facebook, twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. These are among the most popular social media sites. Facebook (as of August 2011) has reached 750 million members and comes in as the number one social networking site. There are many social media sites and they use a wide variety of formats. Blogger and WordPress are two of the most popular general blogging sites, but there are thousands of blogging sites. The possibilities are endless depending on the information being exchanged and the intended audience. There are article databases such as Ezine, sites to create your own page and content (called a “lens”) such as squidoo, and scribd where ebooks or other documents can be shared across the World Wide Web. Social media covers all the tools we use for social networking.
How to Use Social Media for Business
37 months ago
The social media world is a very broad one as there are so many options and platforms available from which to promote your business. While it can be a simple process in general, it can be rather complex to use these social platforms to their fullest potential. In some ways it is as easy as setting up a facebook fan page and sharing links to twitter accounts, blogs and various forums or websites. But it will take a detailed strategy to use these platforms properly and effectively. Otherwise it is like a scattershot in the dark at best. While employing the various modes of social media there is a certain (mostly) unspoken set of rules and ethics.
Using social media
Honesty and transparency are key to launching a successful internet marketing strategy. It is important for relationships for you to be yourself with customers and internet users who may interact with you. Do not act like you are a “customer” if you are a business owner. Being honest and open about who you are and what you are sharing builds trust between you and your customers. This is key to maintaining a good business relationship.
Make your communication informative rather than promotional. It is okay when using social media platforms (facebook, Twitter, etc…) to make suggestions about products that may be available but make it sound more like you are sharing information. You want to be careful that you do not come off as a spammer while engaged in interactions online. You do want to logically present your business information so that others are aware of what you are making available. Remember that most social media platforms are built around a casual atmosphere. Conversations may be business oriented, but you want to be congenial and informal.
Use every opportunity to answer any questions that may be asked. But try not to answer questions that already have answers unless you really have more information to add to what has already been said. Also try to avoid questions that were asked a long time ago, unless of course they are pertinent to current events.
Always listen to customer feedback. Don’t dismiss something just because it sounds negative on the surface. One of the benefits to using social media is to get constructive feedback. Yes, you are dispensing information and providing it to clientele, but they may have an idea that can help you provide better service or a way to improve communication between your business and the customers.
Using these guidelines, when dealing within the structure of social media, will help you become a trusted source. You need this trust so that customers can ask you for your advice.
How to Use Facebook for Business
17 months ago
As of August 2011, Facebook has crossed the milestone of having over 750 million members. This social networking site can be a useful tool for a business. However, it must be marketed carefully to stay within Facebook’s user policies. Your user profile cannot promote your business, but you can create a fan page for the business.
The page name for your
Facebook for business
business fan page will be one of the biggest ranking factors. Make sure to add some relevant keywords because there will not be an opportunity to change the name of the page later. You will be asked to add a profile picture, be sure to make the most out of this opportunity. If it is possible it would be good to use a business logo for the profile picture. Use a picture that can be easily associated and identified with the business.
When you fill in the information about your business make it as brief as you can and still keep it relevant and engaging for your viewers. Think about search engine optimization best practices and use keywords where relevant. Each of these tabs is individually indexed by search engines. You can also put a URL under the profile picture. It will automatically become a clickable link that can be used to send visitors to your business website, twitter or blog.
Having users “like” your Facebook page is similar to having someone follow you on Twitter, although it is a little more complicated. When someone likes or comments on your status update it will be shown on their profile. On fan pages after you get enough “likes” it will move it to the Top News section of the news feed of that user. This will make it more visible.
People will be joining your page because they are interested in what you have to offer. Simply put, the page needs to be kept current with fresh and interesting data such as pictures, videos and pertinent links. You do want to be careful that you do not inundate your fans with too much traffic, but you will need enough to keep them engaged and aware of what your business is doing. Frequent uploads of pictures displaying product information or uploading recent hosted events can keep the content relevant and fresh for users. You can also upload your own video creations and give your fans that personal touch that can be great for internet marketing.
These are some ideas you can use to begin using facebook for marketing and business purposes.
Social Media Marketing Analysis
87 months ago
Last time we noted that a mildly alarming number of business owners are completely forgoing SEO in favor of social media. Today, we’ll explain the risks behind putting all your eggs in one basket (that is, the social media basket), and moreover, why SEO is still relevant and why we don’t see SEO disappearing from online marketing strategies any time soon.
First, we’d like to acknowledge that social media is still a viable method for establishing one’s online presence. The point of this post is NOT to belittle the merits of social media (after all, we use Twitter, Facebook, and WordPress, too). Rather, the purpose of this post is to remind business owners that social media should not be the only thing that they focus on in web marketing.
The great thing about SEO is that all the optimization you do on your website is yours and no one else’s. In contrast, when you update your Twitter or Facebook page, you are conducting online marketing through a domain that is not your own. This may not seem like that big of a deal, but what happens if one of these social media outlets goes out of fashion? Say good-bye to all the content that you poured into that external site.
The truth of the matter is that all the marketing you do on social media platforms is ephemeral, but all the optimization you do on your own site is permanent. If you get kicked off of Twitter for some reason, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to retrieve your past content. However, if something similar were to happen to your website (say, for example, your web host chooses not to host you anymore), at least you can easily take your backup files and move to another hosting site. But with Twitter and Facebook, you don’t have that option. You are left completely at the whim of the social media powers that be. On the other hand, if you own your own domain, you are in full control over what happens to your content. This is also why, if you blog, we highly recommend that you try to have your own domain name for your blog. Why? Because if you blog through a subdomain and one day decide to switch platforms, you run the risk of losing a lot of traffic, incoming links, search engine rankings, etc.
To read more about the crucial differences between SEO and social media, be sure to keep an eye out for our next post.
SEO vs. Social Media
118 months ago
Social media has become an important part of many search engine marketing campaigns, so much so that many small businesses seem to focus more on social media than they do on search engine optimization. They create a Twitter, Facebook page, and blog, all with the expectation that using these popular social media platforms will increase their online visibility. However, the social media craze has created a false sense of security in many a business owner’s eyes. A common rookie mistake is to invest more time in updating social media than in SEO. In fact, some businesses don’t even bother creating (let alone building/opt
Social Media Marketing
imizing) their own website. Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, and Google Places are al
l ways for companies to make themselves known on the web without the expenses that normally go along with SEO. For this reason, some business owners decide that they’d rather focus all their web marketingefforts on social media.
There’s no denying the allure of using social media as your only source of content marketing. Social media can reach a large audience at a very low cost (note: the reason I say “low cost” instead of free is because although social media platforms like Twitter and Blogger/Wordpress are free, you still have to spend time writing updates, or at least paying an employee to write them for you).
This leads to the ever-looming question: does the rise of social media in today’s virtual environment make SEO obsolete?
The clear answer is no, social media has not made SEO outdated. To find out why SEO isn’t leaving any time soon, be sure to check out our next post on internet marketing.
Politics and Social Media
48 months ago
One of the greatest things about new Web 2.0 platformsis how they have connected the entire world. We are watching as social media begins to play a more prominent role in society. As of the first part of this year, facebook has over 600 million users. There are several instances where social media has been used to spur social or political changes. Think back to the election of 2008, the 2010 elections in Iran and all the uproar that was raised to try to free Sakineh from being executed by stoning. Most of these used social media as a platform or at least a means to transfer information.
Web 2.0 Optimization
Social sites have become platforms to stand up for causes or to respond to current events such as the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. And of course we are all watching our favorite social sites for the latest changes in the Arab world and specifically the change of regime in Libya. This may make us consider what type of role they will play in our own nation’s upcoming elections.
Businesses were quick to get on board using social media for marketing purposes. It’s a free resource and it’s an easy tool to quickly reach the masses with any type of information. Just one click of a “share” or a “like” button and it’s on its way around the globe. Don’t think that those running for political offices will miss this inexpensive opportunity!
One state representative decided to use facebook to post his votes in real time. He was able to post how he voted on certain matters that were presented to the House of Representatives and get instant feedback from those he was representing. This adds a totally new connection between politicians and those they are representing. It keeps communication open between politicians and voters. It can actually be an extension of a candidate or campaign.
Candidates use social media to announce their intentions to run for an office; and just recently President Obama was the first president to send a tweet from the white house. Social sites are becoming a new tool in the world of political campaigning. Many politicians are busy at work establishing Twitter, YouTube and Facebook presences.
Social media does not replace some of the traditional campaigning practices, it’s just that it helps politicians seem a little more “human” to those they are representing. But don’t discount the use of websites for politicians. A good blog or website can give voters a good look at what a politician stands for. It’s not a replacement, it’s simply an enhancement.
Google Plus and SEO
38 months ago
Google+ is kind of like that hipster kid that everyone suspects is cool, but no one is actually friends with. It’s not that Google+ doesn’t have great features (it does), but the vast majority of your friends are still on Facebook and have no intention of “switching” anytime soon. However, as a small business owner or independent marketer, you’re probably wondering what Google+ can do for your business and if it can actually help your site do better in the search results. Well… yes. Kind of.
Google+ and Direct SEO Juice
Because Google and Google+ are so intimately connected, you’d think that Google would favor any interaction with your website on Google+ over other results, but that isn’t necessarily the case. For example, Yahoo clearly favors articles from its own Associated Content contributor’s network, ranking them higher than comparable content (or better content) from other websites.
But Google has chosen not to go down this road. Just because your website is +1’d or shared on Google+ does not mean it will be favored over other websites. In fact, Todd at PR Squared recently conducted an experiment and found that although a high number of Google+ shares had a positive impact on his site SEO, his site still ranked below others that had fewer shares across all social media sites and were lower-quality sites.
The Social Impact
But don’t let that get you down. Remember, a high-number of Google+ shares and +1’s will help you do better than sites that have no Google+ data associated with them. And take heart in the fact that Google+ can still help you increase traffic to your site.
One of the cool things about Google+ being connected with the biggest search engine in the world is that Google can use social indicators to influence what user’s click on in the search results. So your site doesn’t rank #1, so what. If a large number of people have +1’d or shared a link to your site on Google+, that will be reflected in the search results.
Not only is Google displaying +1 numbers next to search results, but if someone you know +1’d or shared a link to a site that appears in your search results, you’ll see their picture next to that result, making it more attractive to click on.
For example, let’s say you like the Skittles website, so you shared it on Google+. Now when one of your friends searches Google for “candy” or something similar, they may see the Skittles website—with your picture right underneath the link. Out of all the results on the page, which one do you think your friend will be most likely to click on?
Expand Your Circles
SEO isn’t just about directly increasing page rank. It’s also about your site traffic and bounce rate. And now that Google is relying more on “human” factors when evaluating websites, getting more people to your site, and keeping them there longer, is a key factor in ranking better over the long-run.
In other words, the more you can get people to share your site and interact with it through Google+, the better. Although Google+ shares won’t directly and dramatically affect your SEO, the increased interaction and exposure you’ll get with high engagement through Google+ will.
This guest post was written by James Ged
James is a writer, social media geek, and SEO consultant. Most of the time he’s blogging about Comcast internet, but he also shares cool things from around the web at Social Buzzer.
SEO For Twitter
711 months ago
Twitter SEO
In our last post, we discussed why you can’t have a successful social media campaign without incorporating SEO into the game plan. Today, we talk about some of the best SEO strategies that you can easily implement in one of the most popular corporate social media platforms to date—Twitter.
Why should you even care about SEO when updating your company’s Twitter? Well, since Google indexes Tweets, this means that individual Twitter profiles and tweets can show up in Google search results, which means that you should seriously consider optimizing your Twitter content.
A simple yet important way to improve your internet marketing is to make sure your Twitter’s bio conveys your mission statement in a concise manner (and with a 160-character limit, you really have no choice but to be succinct). If you can, make your tweets keyword-rich. If you can have the keywords near the beginning of your tweet, that’s preferable because when Google displays your tweets in search engine results, it will only show the first part of your post.
Microblogging sites like Twitter allow people to both express and consume information in a very “snapshot-like” manner. As a result, many people use Twitter to share links to interesting articles or sites. For this reason, Twitter is an authentic way to create links that lead back to your site. Similar to how you’ll want to track the progress of your site’s traffic after implementing SEO techniques, with Twitter, you can (and should) make use of resources that allow you to monitor how many other users are sharing the same link as you as well as how many people click on the links in your tweets. When linking to your site in a tweet, using a URL shortener like Bit.ly will allow you to view and analyze this type of data.
Twitter is a great way to build natural links back to your website. By optimizing your social media content, you can turn your Twitter into a powerful resource that assists in your SEM goals.
This guest post was written by Premiere Creative. Premiere Creative is a New Jersey based marketing company that specializes in website usability and heuristic analysis. Additionally Premiere prides in self on doing top quality web design and SEO for clients in various industries.
Expand your website through Social Media
111 year ago
Image via Wikipedia
Social media has basically become the life of the internet and unless you know how to tap into this resource your website will not be growing as fast as it could be. Fortunately it really isn’t all that difficult to connect with various forms of social media to build plenty of links and traffic which are all beneficial to your website. Using the proper social media networking ideas you can easily increase traffic while building a solid fan base.
Obviously the most popular social media sites are Facebook and Twitter but there are other social media sites out there. In the end however each of these sites will basically accomplish the same thing because they’re all targeting the same audience. In order to successfully get your links out to these social media sites you will likely need to create an account with the site in order to begin posting your links and articles.
Once you’ve signed up for sites such as Facebook and Twitter the process of actually publishing your link is quite easy. For both of these sites (as well as most others) you will simply have to paste the link you wish to share into the “share” box which will then automatically publish the link. Of course the more fans or followers you have on these social media sites the more traffic you will receive but just getting your link out there is a good way to get started. Social media links alone however will not be enough because nearly all social media sites publish links as “no follow” links which means they will not be noticed or used by search engines.
What exactly is a “no follow” link? Well as the name suggests a no follow link is one that will not be followed by Google and other search engines. This means that no matter how many no follow links you have on various social media sites your search engine ranking will not improve. As a result there is little benefit to building large quantities of no follow links. Another drawback to social media is that Google and other search engines are often not able to see or index things you post. For example; Facebook generally restricts access to certain posts which means that Google will more than likely not be able to even see that your link has been published. This once again means that social media is about much more than simply building links; the overall purpose is to gain fans and readers.
Another very important thing to remember is that social media is only as effective as you make it. Simply using a single social media network will significantly limit how much of an impact you see from the links you are building. Try to utilize as many social media sites as you can because the more links you are able to build the faster your website will grow and expand. Try out sites like Facebook and Twitter but also make sure to use other methods like Digg, Squidoo and Reddit as these will have just as good of chance to build a fan base. Also do everything you can to encourage fans and readers to repost your article links as often as possible because these will make more of an impact than you publishing your own links on these social media sites. Eventually you will build a solid group of readers that consistently share and spread your links which will keep your site well rooted in the social media system.
In the end social media really comes down to quantity and quality. If you manage to build a large user base on any of these social media sites you will quickly begin to see some major increases in traffic. It may take a while but the more fans or friends you have on these social networks the more benefit you will see from social media marketing; hopefully social media will be an effective tool for you and your website thanks to these tips.
This guest post was written by Jonathan
Jonathan is a journalist currently writing for Amazing News where he and others consistently provide heartwarming and cheerful news stories that can make your day better and brighter.
Social Media and Egyptian Revolution
11 year ago
Image via Wikipedia
Social media is no longer limited to status updates and posting photos from a friend’s birthday party. It has quickly become one of the most influential factors in grassroots socio-political mobilization across the globe. The January 25 revolution in Egypt gained a major foothold with the application of Facebook and Twitter. Ever since communication media have existed, individuals used them to demand more governmental transparency and mobilize allies.
On February 9 former President Bill Clinton gave a lecture at New York University about the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the 1995 Bosnia-Herzegovina genocide. Clinton compared constant news media coverage in Bosnia-Herzegovina with the role of social media in assisting communications during the revolution in Egypt. While he noted that the coverage of Bosnia-Herzegovina was different from the social media-assisted revolution in Egypt, both captured global attention, springing from the human desire for information.
Clinton reflected back on the quality of technology available during his presidency 16 years ago, “There were just 50 Internet sites and the average cell phone weighed 5 pounds”.
Inspired by events taking place during the recent successful revolt in Tunisia, many Egyptians began protesting against the unemployment and poverty resulting from 30-year s of autocratic rule by former President Hosni Mubarak. They used social networks like Facebook and Twitter to show the world what was happening, arrange protests and share information about governmental and military responses to the unrest. On the second day of mass protest the Internet, PDA access to the Internet and text messages were shut off by the Egyptian government, but these efforts to disable ‘insurgent’ communication were unsuccessful. A handful of transnational human rights activists, translators and bloggers used social media platforms to relay messages from Egyptian protestors, journalists and activists to further grassroots social mobilization. The world witnessed, day-by-day, what was going on inside Egypt.
Social media makes social organization easier and effective. In Egypt, citizens used social media to bring together individuals who shared common goals and ideas, and it also became a medium for planning. Social media forced the government to take accountability. These days, international social networks make it nearly impossible for governments to lie to and hide from their citizens. As January’s events have shown, social media interconnects individuals creating a transnational network armed with information.
While the Bosnia-Herzegovina genocide and the recent revolution in Egypt are two completely separate events rising out of different politics and history, the human desire for information has always been insatiable. At many points in history individuals have combined ingenuity, passion and technology to link with people, societies and movements across the globe.
This post was written by Thomas Morrison
Thomas Morrison is a co-editor of Everything Left and writes on topics that are current and progressive
Related Articles
- Social Media Sparks Egyptian Revolution (socialnetworkingnewsdaily.com)
- Upheaval and Revolution in Egypt, and the Powerful Effects of Social Media (fastgush.com)
- Egypt’s Social Media Revolution (kylelacy.com)
- Energtek Signs a Natural Gas Purchase Agreement with BH Gas, the Transmission Gas Provider of Bosnia and Herzegovina (prnewswire.com)
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