The business of the web is this: there are no concrete business models, and marketing strategies become more and more unique as brands battle it out on the internet. Facebook, the number one social networking platform in our lives is now being used to attract specific audiences to age appropriate brands as well as their respective countries. If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, you might want to try a few of these attractive tactics.

1.  Create an app and use it as your landing page. It’s been done many times. In fact, it’s the latest trend. For many brands, creating an app and using it as a landing page makes their Facebook fan page a lot more unique. It’s gives them a sense of identity and of course it amuses the user to get a sneak peek into the brand’s website (if there is any)

2.  Promote and offer then something. In a recent study, we learned that the number one reason audiences liked a Facebook page was because of the promo / contest at hand. Contests are a great way to gather the information you need for organic leads. Require things like e-mail and mobile when putting together a nifty promo.

3.  Drive for user generated content. You can only amuse your audience for so long, and more so, you can only have so many people taking care of your social media for you. User generated content is great marketing because it allows them to share it with their friends, and you gain fans organically.

4.  Create a tool that they can play with. Whether it’s Pac Man or a makeover tool that you have to offer, make it as interesting and playful as possible to gain their attention. Word of mouth travels fast, and when you have something intriguing enough; they’re going to want to tell their friends.

5.  Redirect to your website. Every Facebook page has its limits. You were asked to market on Facebook, and you’ve done your job, now don’t forget to redirect them to where they’re really meant to go – your website.

Easy right? Start marketing on Facebook today!

Social media laws / guidelines are still pretty murky at best at most companies. While many corporations are aware that they need to have a social media presence, that they need to wage social media marketing campaigns, and that they have to actively manage their company’s online social reputation, very few are wading in to take advantage of the many benefits that could come from allowing their employees access to social media sites while at work.

This is a shame because the fear of security breaches and lowered productivity can be easily addressed. While Old Spice’s “Man Your man Could Smell Like” is making waves across YouTube and resurrecting the brand from a sleepy old man’s cologne to a relevant, trendy fragrance for young jocks, your company might still be worried that all your employees are busy doing is watching the clip over and over again on YouTube. The point is, people use social networking sites whether you want them to or not. It is time to face the fact and use it to your company’s advantage.

Most employers will readily admit that their most loyal customers are their own employees, yet they are unwilling to allow employees to spread the word about them in a way that naturally employs the principles of SEO. The truth is, most employees are already dedicated advocates of your brand, they just aren’t able to express it until they leave work. If you implement a Social Media Policy with our help, you will be able to address all your concerns and reap the advantages.

Optimum7 is ready to partner with legal counsel to analyze how best to protect your company from libelous claims, loss of sensitive information, protection of intellectual property and malicious attacks from current or former employees. We can develop a guideline advising your employees what they are permitted to say about the company in the online format. Once you have these protections in place, you can comfortably allow access to your employees to use social media sites and reap the benefits.

The concern that they will not work as hard for you if they are able to post tweets as they work is just not supported by the evidence. Happy employees are more productive, and the more tools they have been granted access to (such as the internet), the smarter they work. Many tools that were once contraband in the workplace, such as personal laptops, company cell phones, and internet use, have all improved productivity rather than lower it as expected. Giving your employees access to social media sites will be the same.

Lastly, your brand will have the advantage of all its most loyal advocates posting daily news about it, which will in turn be seen by more people as these posts make their way to the pages of “friends” and “friends of friends”.  It will also provide a steady stream of fresh content for search engine spiders to pick up in organic result listings.

Don’t be left behind, contact Optimum7 today to draft social media laws/rules/ guidelines so your company can grant social media access to its employees.

One of the biggest advantages of opting for Joomla development is the flexibility it offers while developing a website. Over the years Joomla developers have put in their hard work to create thousands of plugins and extensions which take care of varied needs of the users. One of the most sought after categories of plugins are the social media plugins. Joomla doesn’t include any social media plugins by default but you can easily integrate these plugins to add to the marketability score of the website. Your website will be promoted virally across various social media networks and the biggest advantage – your visitors will turn your promoters!

 

Popular Social Media Plugins in Joomla

 

• Joomla Add This - This is an all in one social media plugin. This includes Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious and Stumbleupon. You can insert the Add This button wherever you want and can edit things like the account information associated with this button. This is best suited for website where space is limited or the webmaster prefers an uncluttered look.
• SocialList – This plugin allows users to save, catalog and share interesting pages they find online. Most of the popular social media platforms are included in this plugin. You can choose from a list of as many as ten languages! The plugin is highly customizable when it comes to the size of the button, popup window rows and columns number.
• SocButtons – This allows you to display social networks such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It is a complete no-nonsense plugin which allows users to share content easily without too much hassle of rewriting titles and editing the content that is to be shared.
• Twitter Plugins -  This plugin is dedicated to share a website or blog on Twitter. It has gained huge popularity thanks to the popularity of Twitter. This allows you to send pre-formatted tweet to your Twitter account with each new article. You will be able to keep your followers updated easily using this plugin.  
• Article Footer Plugin – If you want to keep your page clean and use a social media plugin at the bottom of the page, this one is for you. It allows you to create your own social media plug-in! You need to insert the code at the footer and you can choose the sites you want to link to.  

Do not compromise with the quality of your websites at any cost and hire the services of the best developers in business. Joomla development does test the expertise of a developer. One of the best ways to get a perfect Joomla website with good social media plugins is to outsource it. Take advantage of the development cost benefits that the offshore development centers offer you. Many such firms operate out of countries like India which have been catering to a global audience.

Well who would have thought that a cool little social networking site originally created in the Harvard University dorm room of Mark Zuckerberg would have evolved into the world’s favorite online social giant that it is today.

FaceMash is originally created on October 28th 2003, Facebook as we know it now, Today 500 million people across the globe are connected with this site. Beside this the facebook is also ranked as the world’s 2nd most visited website, losing the top slot to the big ‘G’

Marketers also well liked the social networking platform for marketing rather than MySpace which is also now known as ‘SpamSpace’. In Wider -sense, Facebook has become a business networking platform for advertising plus promoting products and services. Definitely, Facebook would be the ideal place to market your businesses infect, numbers of marketers are already using Facebook for their marketing purposes, but to be frank most of them are doing it all wrong.

From business point of view Facebook marketing strategies can add worth to your advertisement plus delectation customers online.

Besides this Facebook marketing strategies from business promotion point of view you can also able to add Internet marketing strategy. Applying Facebook can offer you certain choices for your business advancement. So if you want to use this social networking site to effectively grow your business then you require to knowing these few important marketing strategies:

1. Define Your Adventure

Be clear about what you desire to attain from your Facebook marketing attempts, is it to:

• Bring up consciousness of your product/business?

For reaching out to your business provide extra venue for your customers. (for client service)

• Build a mailing list of possible clientele?

Deal a brand/service?

You require being clear about your aim – As the works you require to do to achieve the dissimilar aspirations (which you have defined) are different.

2. Attach with concurring people:

After signing up in facebook for marketing purpose the initial thing you need to perform, is to attach with persons with alike involvements as you (or persons who are involved in the place you are in).

3. Be Energetic:

As you know Facebook is a social networking platform. Hence, for occupying the maximum result from it, you need to be energetic. Posting comments on your “friends” status, posts (particularly if they are asking questions regarding the place that you are in, assist them out by furnishing them with response or proposals – they will be grateful for you for that, you can also able to comments on your “friends” posts sending them your birthday washings on their birthday, etc.), is the simplest method to be energetic on facebook.

4. Share instructions/Proposals:

To get acquainted with the people who are not well known to you or you want to get interacted to those then you may need to take the initiative first. Moreover this can also help in many other ways like you can post some tips or simply place a valuable paragraph regarding the content of your website with a little summary to attract the friends and other visitors. Most probably sharing the tips and advices with friends on facebook allow you to drive traffic to your website.

5. Build a Facebook community:

You can also able to start facebook community of persons who have alike involvements as you (in the niche you are in). Then group will helping you in encourage your community members to take part vigorously in the forum. This will only possible if you already be a member of community.

The Basic Anatomy of Social Media

Propelled by one billion peer users, social media has become the fastest growing marketing medium in the U.S. — nonetheless, the much-anticipated monetization of social media remains an unrealized quest for the Holy Grail. Legions of traditional marketers have predictably descended upon Facebook, Twitter, and countless blogs with transparent greed, but have largely failed to monetize social media, due to clumsy efforts that violate peer-to-peer trust etiquette. This can be directly attributed to the low levels of understanding as to how social media really works, within a business.

There are so many “things” involved in social media that it becomes almost impossible to figure out what is truly going on. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Bookmarks, keywords, searches, email and many more options make it almost impossible for the layman to grasp what to do. In this article we hope to clear that up by explaining social media as a living thing, a functioning body of communication similar to the human body.

The premise of the body is simple, without food we die in a matter of days, without water that time is cut in half and without air air we will die in a couple of minutes. So, the primary needs of the body are air, water and food in that order. In order to do this let’s take a look at the human body first. Within the structure of the body there are musts, and that’s all we will cover for now. The brain, the heart, the lungs, the vein system, blood and bones provide us with a great background for explanation and connection to social media.

The bones provide protection and structure, some would even say protection through structure to the organs in the body. This is easily associated with the basics of an internet presence. Your bones in a social media presence are your website and all its functionality. It is the modern day equivilant to the business card and without it you are spinning your wheels. As the old saying goes, it is the “bare bones”.

Next is your veins system. This caries blood around the body and provides for nourishment and replenishment of the vital organs. They are the highways within anatomy and must be used correctly. If one is sending blood north and it is supposed to sending it south, we have big trouble. So, the association here is that your vein system is directly equal to the outside (not your) sites on the web. YouTube, Vimeo, Podcast sites, iTunes, Ezine and many more are the veins, or highways, that help distribute your content and message. Use them wisely and the flow will be steady.

Now that we know these sites work like veins within our social media system, what is the blood? Blood on its own is the most vital thing in the world for the body. It is the carrier of oxygen, nutrients and DNA. This is exactly like the content you put out to the world. It is your DNA. It is the essence of your brand and the fingerprint of your business. Your blood, or content, should remain pure and treated as the one thing that you cannot live without.

The heart plays a major role in this functioning of your body, as well as your media. The heart itself is nothing more than a muscle; it is driven by electricity that stems from your brain, or neural center. The act of pumping or flexing is the important thing to think of in this process. This is closely associated with the habits and routine of your media actions and behaviors. Good rhythm in your your media expression to your audience makes sure that your content is “pumping” through your distribution channels consistently.

Your brain is the command center of the body and your brands message. This command center is the place that tells you what to think, do, feel and transmit. The brain take sin information from other organs and makes decisions based on the feeling. For this to be closely associated with a portion of the social media mix for brands, we would have to suggest that it is, in part, run by a non-bias third party. The brain is made of many different parts and it always tells the truth, because it is relaying data from one part of the brain to another and providing guidance based on fact, not opinion.
This brings to mind the lungs, the most underrated organ in the human body and the most misused and misunderstood part of the social media mix. The fact is that the most essential thing living things need is air, it is the stimulator for the entire body. Air should be thought of as data. The more you TAKE IN the more success you will have in contemporary marketing. The lungs take in air and send it to the blood and brain at the same time. In other words, data from your audience should feed your content and choices as a modern brand. Social networks are the E-version of the lung. They are ready available organs that draw in all kinds of information, sort the useful from the not useful and pass it on to the brain and blood. Social networks should be used as tools to draw in info, much like lungs to air.
So let’s look at the simplicity of this analogy. The process should go like this when it comes to your media division. You must:

•Create a foundation (website,etc….)
•Determine which ways to use your distribution avenues (veins)
•Be present in the social networks to constantly give you data (Lungs and Air)
•Feed your neural center to ensure that you have the right information (Brain)
•Use this data to create proper content to send through the distribution centers with a purpose of driving people back to your website or sales center
•Create a daily plan of tactics and behaviors (heartbeat) to create a consistent circulation of your message

In conclusion every business should think of media (ways you connect with the public) as a child or birthing a new being. If you are not prepared to create a good body, don’t take it on. It is better to NOT be present in the space if you have nothing to say or a fuzzy message about who you are and what you do. It is tough to abort mistakes on the internet, so take parenting classes and build a parenting plan for this new organism of engagement and information marketing. Effective exercising of this plan will result in productive and accurate customer information, which in turn will produce healthy lines of revenue.

By Eric Rice
LWI and The Founders Den

Popularity of an individual these days may it be a local celeb or a budding national celebrity, an aspiring politician or just some emerging television star is associated with the fan following of that individual. And with social networking sites like facebook and twitter on full boom, what better way for people to find out how popular an individual is through finding out the number of followers that he/she might have on such networking sites.Making fans and increasing your fan following on Facebook Marketing such social networking sites especially when you are starting from grass root level is very difficult because people hardly care about listening to somebody or following some body

They would hardly want to lay that much time or that amount of contemplation in understanding and following someone who is new or completely unknown. Adding people on to your fan following list is similar and equally difficult as making a brand out of yourself.With the local firms and companies making their own page on facebook and twitter, even they would need to have a huge fan following to generate brand loyalty, brand impact and brand impact

Typically such websites that’d help you increase your fan following or likings would start working on your campaign within 24-48 hours from the confirmation of your order and you will start to see new fans/followers within a few days. In order to complete your entire order they might take 2-4 weeks to complete your Facebook fans and say 3-4 weeks for Twitter followers.Social networking sites are on full fledged move and have taken the world by storm. For instance, Facebook now has over 400 million users with over 50% of these users logging in daily, accessing the site over 500 billion minutes per month. This itself shows how effective facebook or twitter is at local, national and international level

Twitter and other social networking sites are a good way for Businesses and organizations of all shapes and sizes to be able to stay connected to their customers and to quickly share information with people interested in their company, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and other people who care about their business. Customers can not only use such pages to get in touch with the company directly and tell how good/great/bad their experience with your business was, offer product ideas.A satisfied customer is the right building block to your empire of a successful business!

Today with all the business and business related activities interconnected globally, Social media is essential for getting the message out about a business, its products and services.

It doesn’t matter if a company is focused on marketing, or public relations, or sales, the social web requires that businesses spread as wide a net as possible.

To flourish in this environment, businesses must integrate a comprehensive strategy for growing and retaining consumers. This means putting a marketable brand in front of the target audience, wherever they may be.

Social Media in Business is for key stake holders as social media can turn communication into a interactive dialogue and impact on business practices and processes.
Some of the ideas of using social media to see greater success with small business are
1.Marketing. Participating in social media is a fast and easy way to market your small business to others in a place online where youre guaranteed loads of traffic and its free. Just participating in your favorite social media platform (commenting, voting, sharing information) will make you stand out as a helpful member of the community and make sure others remember you. Plus, by joining and participating in groups within larger networks or smaller niche communities like BizSugar.com lets you focus on the audience you want to market to.

2. Branding. Through the information you share in social media, you can show your expertise, building brand and authority within the community of your choice. While a business blog can certainly help you do the same, social media allows you to do so before a ready made niche audience and to build authority much faster within a larger established community while you build your own following on your own site.

3. Traffic. Nowadays, social media should be used first and foremost to get a hold of some of the elusive traffic that can be difficult to capture at first simply by blogging. Sharing content or even just a link to your blog via social media can make all the difference in the world in terms of the traffic you can begin attracting almost immediately.

4. SEO.Whether the social media platform you use passes search value directly to your Website or not as a result of participation, it is certain that the visitors you attract including those who may use social media to search for their own content (see below) certainly will. Sharing your content or simply links to your site will encourage first visits and then inbound links from the very niche you are targeting and will surely eventually have a positive effect on your Search Engine Optimization.

5. Crowd sourcing. Weve done this ourselves by posting questions in order to gather responses from our community and you can do the same. Use social media to find out what your audience thinks or to ask them to participate. You will build better products and services with this input and build community interaction and interest in your business online.

6. Content. Social media is a two way street, In addition to letting you create and share content, social media enables you to find content in your industry as well. Search for topics to blog about or news to share with your own social media following giving credit to the originators of the material, of course.

7. Research. We mean both market research and data research here. Simply, social media allows you not only to address but to listen to your communities hearing what others are saying about your industry and perhaps even about your business or brand. At the same time, social media channels can be a great place to monitor the latest news in your industry often from a variety of perspectives.

8. Networking. Of course, social media allows you to be much more than a passive observer. One of the greatest aspects of social media is its social aspect. You can not only share content and give and receive feedback on that content and the content of others but also make connections, decide who to follow and who to make a part of your networkand who you should ask to network with you. Social media allows you to make connections not just with those in your industry but with potential customers and those who might refer customers to you.

9. Community. Building community goes beyond traffic and visitors to your Website. It has to do with how engaged those visiting your Website are, whether they share your content with others, refer people in their network to your content, products and services and so on. Using social media can help you do much more than simply build traffic on your businesses main Website. Social media attracts engaged users interested in giving feedback, sharing comments and votes and, in general, participating. That engagement should transfer to your home site as well and build your community in the process.

10. Authority. Social media helps you gain authority for your content Website and brand by letting you share it more widely and more quickly than you might ordinarily be able to simply by updating your blog regularly. Plus, social media makes it easy for others to share your content with their networks gradually building your authority in your niche.

With one of the latest trends being how to make money online, businesses on the Internet are now seeking strategies and techniques to boost their sales and revenues. Even existing businesses outside the Net are trying to catch up with the trend since their visibility online can attract more customers than doing the traditional advertising and marketing.

Some advertise their websites and blogs to increase the traffic to their sites in hopes of generating more income. Others use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to increase the traffic to their sites, which also makes it easier for their business/businesses to be found by the search engines.

In the last few years social sites have become the HOT trend for advertising your expertise. Social media sites have become pretty effective because these sites are visited by millions of users all over the world. We are referring to sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, and YouTube etc. Some refer to this as social media optimization.

With this being the case, many people who dont know much about this trend tend to get frustrated with the learning curve of not really knowing how to manage their social media accounts. This is when its a good idea to consult with a social media manager. Social Media Managers assist businesses with their social media optimization, plus they save you countless hours or time, effort and money because they do what their good at while you focus on your still focusing on your business operations.

There are countless numbers of companys that are hiring social media managers to assist with the management of their social media accounts, particularly Twitter and Facebook. Most of these entrepreneurs want to maximize their sites potential, which will also help create more followers, and viewers on their accounts. Twitter for instance, is a very powerful tool for marketing your products or services. In other words, followers on twitter can turn into your potential customers. Would you like this for your business? Then this is the perfect time to hire a good social media manager.

Social Media Managers also may give suggestions for dealing with situations where your having issues with spam, invalid passwords, twitter DMs or direct messages, comment management, RSS feeds, and other related issues. Social media manager find solutions and advise on other topics such as controlling unwanted emails, effective email marketing, linking different social media accounts into one, engaging in forums, and comments on other blogs. Social media managers also increase the visibility of blog posts in order to gain visitors to your business blog or website.

In the paragraph above we touched on just a few of the roles that a social media manager undertakes when working with clients. With this trend quickly developing more and more social media managers are becoming hired to help businesses manage their social accounts. Without Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Delicious, Stumbleupon, and all the other countless social media sites, businesses would never be as viable and lucrative as they are today.