Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

Social media marketing has become a very important tool in allowing companies to find fresh and creative ways to attract more customers. All the popular social media platforms like Facebook, Google+, and Twitter have certain features that can make your marketing campaigns more effective. Here are some of the ways in which you can use these tools improve your business.

Fan Pages on Facebook Timeline

Facebook is by far the biggest social network in the world, with about a billion registered users. In the last few months, Facebook has made numerous changes to its interface and these changes can be helpful for businesses. The changes have also affected the fan pages, where you can no longer have a landing tab.

Instead, you need to create a custom tab name and a custom tab photo. There are different Facebook applications that can be used for creating custom tabs. You can embed the email capture form into the tab along with a video, a picture, and some text. Once you have created the custom tab, you can edit the tab name and the tab photo. Try Facebook ads for advertising your freebie offers and then divert the ad traffic to the custom tab.

Follow on LinkedIn Company

LinkedIn may not be as big in terms of the number of users as Facebook, but it is the network of choice for people who want to connect to professionals and companies. Recently, LinkedIn released a widget called the Company Follow Button. The button looks similar to a re-tweet button from Twitter, and it makes it a lot easier for users to follow your company page on LinkedIn without leaving your site.

Manage Social Media on BufferApp

BufferApp is a content management system and a great social media tool. Using this app, you can add content to your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook accounts even before it is published. Also, the application automatically spaces out the content for you, which is not the case with applications like TweetDeck or HootSuite. The spacing out aspect is very important because if you spontaneously post something, then the scheduled posts move out so that you do not spam your followers.

Pin to Pinterest

Pinterest is the most recent social media site to hit the Internet, and it’s a hit in every way. Pinterest’s pinboard style social photo sharing website allows users to create manage theme based image collections on their own personal pinboards. Companies can use Pinterest to connect their physical presence with their online one thereby boosting brand awareness. In order to make an impact on Pinterest, companies should consider pinning item every day to help keep them top of mind. And, companies can use this photo sharing site promote products, launch new ideas, post interesting tips and information.

Post to YouTube

Many businesses do not understand how to use YouTube efficiently. They believe that YouTube provides video hosting for free and that is its biggest benefit. That is similar to reading a newspaper just for the cartoon strip. YouTube's real benefit is that it is a social media platform that wants you to interact with your followers. If you want to get more subscribers to your channel, simply ask those who view your video to subscribe to it. You can ask the users to join your channel either in the video itself or you can add an annotation in the video.

Focus on generating cash

Never get carried away and try to use all the social media platforms out there. This can become overwhelming and difficult to manage. Focus on social media sites where the majority of your customers are.

Remember, having a large number of followers on social media site should not be your sole motive. You need to have a plan to ensure that you can generate leads from these followers. In the end, the success of your campaign depends upon the money you make.

One of the most effective ways to increase your site's ranking on search engine result pages is through link building. Social bookmarking, article marketing, and directory submissions are the most commonly cited link building techniques. Listed below are a few other great techniques that can help in improving your link building campaign.

Review products

Epinions, Google Shopping and Amazon are a few sites that make use of user reviews to make their products socially acceptable. You will come across many sites which allow the reviewers to leave a link back to their website. Essentially, the more reviews you write, the more links you will be able to generate.

Release coupon codes

In the post recession era, coupon code sites have become very popular amongst consumers. These sites see a lot of visitors who are trying to get the best possible deals on their purchases. Businesses can release coupon codes and feature them on such sites and in turn get a link back to their site.

Use public libraries

Search engines know that public libraries have some of the most extensive collections of links on the Internet. So, it should not surprise you that search engines often give these links more importance. If you are able to list your website on a public library, it could derive huge benefits from an SEO point of view.

To begin with, you should do some research about the local libraries to learn about the potential they have for generating links. Look for referenced links or link categories which are relevant to your website. You can request the librarian to link to your website, if your site actually fits into a category. However, never try to force your site into a list and never try to link to your affiliate website.

Become a guest speaker

If you keep focusing on the Internet, then you may miss out on other opportunities that can help you in your link building plans. For instance, you can give a presentation at a local university covering your industry niche. If the advertisement aspect of the presentation was good, then you will find a lot of backlinks coming from local publications and news sources.

Create an app

Building an app is never easy. It requires lot of time and effort and the results may not always be what you want. So before you start creating an app, you should do some research. Look at the apps that are doing well in the Android and iPhone market. Then find a developer who will help you in developing an app for your business. If you are able to create something that is liked by the users, you will find many review sites providing links to your site.

Provide giveaways for backlinks

One of the easiest ways to get a large number of backlinks is by hosting a giveaway. An example of a giveaway is an iTunes gift card. You can ask for a backlink from a site in exchange for the gift card. Usually, outrageous and goofy promotions tend to get more attention and have a higher chance of going viral. Giving away a car or a similar item may earn you a lot of backlinks, even though it might not be the most feasible idea.

Use old-fashioned tactics

If you are trying to get links from some sites with high page rank, you should try some old fashioned tactics. You can ask the owner of the site out for a dinner and ask for a link back to your site when appropriate. However, this works only for local businesses and if you know the owner of the site personally.

List job opportunities

This option works really well for those who want to expand their business. When you post a job listing, you will find hundreds of backlinks to your site. This is because job listings are associated with numerous job portals, which can generate a large number of links.

Join trade organizations for your industry

There are two benefits of joining an industry trade organization. The first one is that you get links back to your site, and the second one is that it increases your perceived authority. You will have to shell out a fee for joining such organizations but this fee is comparable to what you will have to pay for paid directory links. Through these organizations, you may also be able to generate leads from people who are interested in your professional profile.

You can choose any of the methods mentioned above or you can go for the traditional methods. But the important thing is to remember that link building requires long-term commitment. Also, do not try to implement all the strategies at once. Your aim should be to add a few links every month and that should translate to results in the course of time.

A majority of small business owners are unfamiliar with the concept of branding. It is often thought of as something that matters only to large international corporations. But branding is as essential for small businesses as it is for large corporations.

Quite simply, branding is the application of any marketing techniques that helps to further the advancement of one’s company or promote specific products and services. With so many firms offering similar products, your business needs to stand out in order to succeed. This is where effective branding techniques can help to achieve this goal.

Core concepts about branding

Branding is not just window dressing: Many small business owners mistakenly view branding as window dressing. But this is a gross misconception. The key differentiators and core values of your business are reflected in and projected by effective branding efforts.

The brand message lets customers know what your product or service stands for and why they should opt for it. For instance, some brands are known for low cost, while others for high quality. Whatever you stand for, the messages and images used for branding should reflect it clearly.

Branding goes beyond the logo: Logo is an important part of any branding strategy. It is a representation of the company. The design, color scheme, and the tagline following it should be chosen carefully. Consistent use of logo across all channels like website, packaging, brochures, and the like is essential. While logo plays an important role, it is just one of the aspects of the overall branding strategy.

Effective branding requires focus: Your branding efforts are unlikely to bear desired fruits, if they are not focused. Rather than trying to communicate multiple points, the branding will be more effective, if it is concentrated on a few points.

For instance, if you try to communicate that your products are the best quality, the cheapest, the most reliable, and the most innovative in the market, customers are likely to question the true value for the price and look elsewhere. Instead, if you focus branding on a single key advantage offered by your product, it is likely to have a much stronger and lasting impact.

Consistency and repetition matter: Consistency of your message and its repetition are essential for successful branding. If you are a parent, you know that a child seldom grasps a message told just one. For the message to sink it, it needs to be repeated numerous times. Moreover, changing the message confuses the child. The same logic applies to branding as well.

One of the aspects often ignored by business owners is the possibility of the brand’s message being undermined by sales representatives. Many companies employ sales representatives who often have their own unique way of promoting the company. If the story told by these reps does not match with the company’s branding message, it can lead to inconsistencies, confuse customers, and drive them away. This can be avoided by ensuring that a consistent message is spread across all the channels of marketing.

Along with effective branding, it is also important to offer value to customers. The only way to do this is to identify consumer needs and offer products that satisfy them. Many people equate value with features. But, a memorable experience is likely to offer much more value than bells and whistles. An effective value creation process can help you change premium price for your products and services.

Driving the value offered by your business

Create a winning team: Having a great team around you is the best way to ensure that you deliver the best possible experience to your customers. Working alongside people having high standards for themselves pushes you to give more. Such a team is well capable of understanding client requirements and meeting them. This makes your product or service valuable to customers.

Offer relevant information: With such a large amount of free information available online, you may wonder if users will really be interested in paid information. But information overload is not always a good thing. Filtering out relevant information from a huge pile is extremely difficult. Regardless of your product or service, offering relevant information, in the right format, at the right time is a great way to add value.

Engage customers on a personal level: With the increasing popularity of social networks, developing personal connections with clients is becoming easier. This allows you to understand their goals more clearly and modify your offerings to suit them. Engaging with your clients on a personal level can help you offer value in a way that is very difficult for competitors to mimic.

Build a strong community: Today building a community is one of the basic requirements for developing a business. There are a number of ways to do this. Memberships are a popular method. A strong community helps you add more value and extend your product line.