Many companies think that they don’t have time for social media or simply don’t want to invest any time or money in that direction.  This is a huge mistake.  It doesn’t take a lot of time or money to have a social media presence online and to keep it updated.  Those that think it takes a lot are simply not aware of the way social media works.

Recently, when talking with a broker of a real estate firm she stated that she simply didn’t have time to learn one more program or one more way to do things.  She was already busier than she had ever imagined – even with the economy in a slump.  What she doesn’t realize is that she doesn’t have to learn to do anything more.  She could Tweet via text message (which she already knows how to do) or she could update a business Facebook page with her phone while waiting for a client.  These simple changes would make her more accessible to her clients and would create leads.  She even has employees who know how to use different social media platforms – she just didn’t know how to utilize them properly.

Here are a few tips that may help your company, no matter how large it is:

1.  Use what you have – Surely you have a computer or cell phone and you have people who work for you.  Chances are your employees have Facebook pages, blogs, or a Twitter account among other social media accounts.  Have a meeting and see who knows how and ask them if they could take the few minutes it takes to create a business account to represent your company.  Be clear that it has to be professional.  Why outsource something you already have access to in the way of knowledge and skills?

2.  Be decisive and quick – Many companies get large and tend to over think things.  By the time they run an idea (like for a social media campaign) through the whole chain of command, the moment is gone and the idea is not fresh.  You need the people working on such things to have momentum and to be excited, it will come through in your social media and be great for customers.  So, make decisions quickly and let someone get to it.  Your company will benefit.  My broker friend, that I mentioned above, admitted that part of her problem was indecisiveness.  She would think too long and hard and then give up.  Momentum would be lost because she didn’t simply act on what she knew was possible.

3.  Learn all that you can and share it – There are many tutorials online to help make the process of using different resources.  These are great tools and are all free.  Make sure that the people working for you know about these tools and use them!  You may want to make a clear policy on what is acceptable and what isn’t and what your online goals are so that everyone is on the same page.

4.  Hire smart – When you have done what you can internally with your staff and you hit a wall or need to put some oomph into your social media – be sure to hire wisely.  There are many companies who will claim to create hype about your company but you need to look at their client list and get good references.  You also want to make sure you are not being over charged.  Should you need this kind of help with your social media accounts please let us help you!  We would be happy to talk to you about ideas and options and give you a great quote in a timely manner.

Social Media

If you ever watch television, read a magazine or listen to the radio then you have probably heard about people using Twitter or “tweeting”.   Twitter is a very popular “micro blogging” social network.  It is similar to Facebook, MySpace and other platforms in that you can post an update on what you are doing.  The difference with Twitter is that it gives you 140 characters to give your followers your information.  You can add links to sites you would like share and you can even upload photos. 

For those of us that follow users on Twitter, we appreciate the fact that the users have to keep the updates short and to the point.  Like many people, I don’t have time to read 50 blogs a day but I can get the general idea of what is going on with those people and companies that I care about by following them on Twitter and just reading one or two sentences as they update.

In business, there are few social media tools as powerful as Twitter.  Twitter has around 200 million users that do over 800,000 searches per day.  This platform is easy for all users to access.  You can update using your phone just by texting and smartphones all have an application to use for Twitter.  It is the easiest to set up and easy to maintain because it really doesn’t require much.

If you are using Twitter to promote a product or business it is a good idea to make sure you update often.  Customers and clients love to feel like they are “in the know” when it comes to information.  Update Twitter if you add a new web page, a blog post, a new product, etc.  Be sure to add links to drive traffic to your site.  This will even help your page rank in the long run. 

We all know that you can’t be awake 24/7 to update your Twitter account but there are people you can hire to make sure that your Twitter account is always updating or you can use services available online that let you schedule updates.  Just never underestimate the power of frequent updates.  But as you do, remember also that your timeline on Twitter can be annoying if one user floods it with constant updates so be sure to be consistent but not annoying.  One update per hour is a good idea to start until you get a feel of what your followers would like. 

One last tip:  if you are using Twitter for business, keep it professional.  If you have an online sports equipment store it really isn’t a good idea to use your stores Twitter page to announce that you are eating ice cream at Baskin Robbins.  Save those tidbits for your personal page.  Clients love to know that you are all about their business when they follow your commercial Twitter account.

Social Media, Twitter

In past posts we have talked about the importance of using media in your blog posts and websites.  For many the first thing that comes to mind is to make and upload a YouTube video to be used on your page.  While this is still an excellent idea, there are other ways to get the same result.  YouTube is great and it has a wide user base but it can’t do everything.   There are some services available that have other options for you.

If you are considering making a series of videos then you may want to consider Blip.tv.  Blip.tv is a high quality “television network” online.  You can upload content often and you have access to a good amount (1GB) of storage and if that isn’t enough you can upgrade your account for a certain fee.  What we love about Blip.tv is that it has built in analytics to help you in your efforts.

Many of you have probably seen videos on a platform called Vimeo.  Vimeo provides some help in how to create better videos so you get better quality overall.  This will be fun for those of you who are very creative.  There are different types of accounts with Vimeo and it is a great place to use if you are looking for a very creative home for your videos.

For some of us, if we think about Flickr, we think of photo storage and sharing.  However, Flickr has become much more.  There is a time limit on the videos you upload and that is 90 seconds.  While this may not seem like much, you may want to consider that sometimes the best points are made in small doses.  A lot can be done in 90 seconds.  A big added benefit of Flickr is the large community of users.  Who doesn’t want a large audience?

For those that like the idea of getting their videos up on social media quickly (mainly Twitter) you may want to choose yFrog.  They are already well known for sharing photos on Twitter.  The perks on yFrog are limited and so is video length but if you want to get it onto your Twitter account fast, this is the way to spread the word.

These are just a few of the options out there.  Some are very powerful and can provide long term solutions for those looking to make videos a regular part of their website, blog or social media campaigns.  If you have questions as to how videos can be made to help your business please contact us.

Blip.tv, Flickr, Social Media, Vimeo, yFrog, youtube

We have all seen YouTube videos and we all know how great it is to see something go “viral”.  We all love to cheer for the regular person who makes a fun or inspiring video that gets viewed by millions.  After all, some people like Justin Bieber can thank YouTube for igniting their careers in show business.

In earlier posts we have talked about the importance of posting multimedia features in your blogs or even in your websites to increase interest for your visitors.  Here we well give you just a few facts about YouTube that you may not have known.  Perhaps you will be inspired to make a video of your own to put up on your site!

*Three of the founders of YouTube had worked together at PayPal.

*According to Mashable.com there is a rumor that claims that YouTube was originally something of a dating website.  Evidently, the three founders decided against it and we have the YouTube we all enjoy today.

*The first YouTube video showed one creator of the site at the San Diego Zoo.  This video was nothing special, just first.

*YouTube boasts just under 500,000,000 unique visitors per month.  Wow!

If the last fact here didn’t make you want to get some videos up on your blog, we don’t know what will inspire you.  The fact is that YouTube is here to stay and you cannot underestimate the power of it.  You never know when your clever video will be the next big thing!  The competition is fierce so put on your creativity caps and get productive.

multimedia, PayPal, Social Media, youtube, YouTube founders

Get the Most ROI for Your Social Media Marketing…

White label daily deals platform and TC Disrupt finalist ChompOn is releasing some interesting data today comparing the value of shares, Tweets, likes and follows in the context of e-commerce. Using data from the sites that it powers daily deals for, ChompOn examined the conversion rate and action for deals shared on Facebook and Twitter.

According to the startup, the value of a Facebook share is $14 and the value of a Tweet is $5. For shares and tweets, ChompOn was able to directly attribute sales to the original action and took the total revenue attributed to each action and divided it by the total number of shares/Tweets. ChompOn is working with 50 partners including Blackbook Magazine, JDeal and the wine vertical of flash sales site Beyondtherack, to power Groupon-like crowdsourced coupons.

By comparison, ChompOn says the value of a Facebook like is $8 and the value of a Twitter Follow is $2. For likes and follows, ChompOn estimated attribution by looking at traffic references and subtracting out purchases made through shares/Tweets as well as purchases made through direct traffic. Of course this data is a bit tenuous and anecdotal. And it’s important to note that this analysis does not capture the long-term value of customers over time.

We’ve seen other data that shows the higher value of a Facebook share over a Tweet. Eventbrite recently reported that a share with Facebook friends results in $2.52 worth of ticket sales whereas a Twitter share is only worth $0.43.

As we wrote back then, Facebook and email most closely match your real friends. In the context of events, this produces better conversions. But it’s interesting to see that in terms of commerce, Facebook again provides a higher value than Twitter in terms of conversions.

blogging, facebook, Social Empire Media Marketing, Social Media, social media marketing, Twitter

To Find Out InformationContact Us Today!!! 
Let Social Empire Media Marketing help you set up your Custom Facebook Page and Social Media Strategy…

www.facebook.com/brandonlangerssymmetrydirectblog

With the movie “The Social Network” out in theatres and all the buzz that surrounds that, there is even more interest in Facebook.  In typical Facebook (genius) fashion, FB has now made it possible to get more creative with your page.  For private pages and businesses alike, this is a great boon.  Here we will discuss just a few things you can do to utilize these new features!

1.  Find a new profile templates that reflect your personality or the attitude of your business.  If you are a business owner, you can be very creative and connect with people through these creative medians.  Just be sure to keep it professional.  It may be hard to believe but professional can be fun and creative without losing credibility.  Make your page something to keep coming back to.

2.  Use photography.  Some of you may have seen different profiles where one picture is displayed through many different blocks on the page.  It gives the illusion that the full photo is behind the “wall” on your Facebook page.

3.  Get creative with your photography.  Check out this link.  If you have the know how and the creativity, you can have a lot of fun with your product, personal photos or whatever you choose.

The opportunities to have fun with this are endless and keep in mind – you want to keep people on your page and interested.  We all want our visitors to keep coming back.  Keep it fresh, updated and relevant and you can’t go wrong!

Social Empire Media Marketing Sample Facebook Pages Links:

www.facebook.com/chapmanchiesl

www.facebook.com/gotopatty

www.facebook.com/voakhomesrealestate

www.facebook.com/baggettrealty

http://www.facebook.com/RobertMaesandAssociates

http://www.facebook.com/PowayRealEstate?ref=ts&sk=app_4949752878

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Weichert-Realtors-Elite/129540968782

http://www.facebook.com/luxuryhomesofhenderson#!/pages/Luxury-Homes-of-Henderson/127115167326447

http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheFleetWoodSD?sk=app_4949752878d

blogging, facebook, Facebook profile, Facebook template, Social Empire Media Marketing, Social Media, social media marketing, Twitter

How Strong is your Social Media Marketing Strategy?

Stay Socially Connected

In late December there were reports of a woman who put together a class reunion by finding all of her classmates on Facebook.  About 10 days after the class reunion her husband left her.  Her Facebook friends found out that she was left with children to take care for and a mountain of debt.  She was devastated and her friends wanted to help her. 

The friends she had on Facebook set up a page on her behalf that she could not access.  Within a short time, her friends organized meals to be delivered to her home, packages with items for children (like diapers, etc) and more to help this single mom out of her situation.  She was overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity and the power of Facebook in spreading the word and bringing her friends together for her benefit.

For those of you who doubt the power of social media, perhaps you need to hear more stories like this one.  It is so easy for a cause, a business or just something entertaining to go “viral”.  If you are in business you really need to understand the power in social media in this day and age.  Few marketing strategies are so cost effective while being so very powerful.

If you want to know how social media can help you in your business or in any other way, please contact us and let us help you.

facebook, Social Media, social media marketing

If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It!

Measurement of Success

Most personal users of social media platforms do not realize that there are great tools available that can help you measure your social media presence.  For those that use social media to help their businesses these tools are imperative. 

Having an online social media presence has changed the way people do business.  Thanks to the Internet, businesses can reach millions of customers instantly and it is free in most cases.  But business owners need to be aware of how important what they post on Twitter, Facebook or blogs can be.  You can really help or harm you business with just a few words.

Luckily there are some great online tools to help you govern the success of your social media accounts.  Some also help you become aware of what is going on with your competitors and more.  Here are a few:

Google Alerts – Google makes life very easy.  In Google Alerts you just enter a keyword or phrase and they will keep you posted on current social media like blogs, videos and more that have to do with those keywords.  Should you see that someone has mentioned your business name you could email them and ask them to add a link to your website.  This also can help you get ideas for your business because you become aware of what your competition is doing.

Tweet Deck- This is an application you can put on your phone or your computer that will help you manage multiple Twitter accounts.  It sorts your Twitter replies and more.  This program also will let you see where you are mentioned on LinkedIn, MySpace, Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  For those that have a lot of followers on Twitter or multiple accounts, this is a  very useful tool.

Social Mention- If you have a large online presence you can keep track of more the 100 social media platforms with this one program.  This is very useful for businesses that have a lot of online conversations  (via Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and use social media a lot.  It is wonderful to have a program that can sort through all the data and help you know what platforms are generating the most interest for your company. 

There are many more programs available out there that serve different purposes.  These are just a few of the good ones.  Most of these programs can help you maximize your impact online.  We all need to know if what we are spending time and effort on is actually helping our business.

Google Alerts, Social Media, social media tools, Social Mention, Tweet Deck

I remember when Facebook and MySpace were pretty new and it seemed intimidating.  I remember thinking that they were sites for teenagers or college students, surely not adults.  This is a common misconception.  These social networking sites and many others are growing so fast that it is hard to keep up.  For example, Foursquare now has 3 million members!

Pew Internets research shows that there was an 88% growth in social media users in the 55-64 age group.  The 65 year olds and older usage grew by a whopping 100%!  This is great information for those companies that cater to these ages.  While most users are in the younger age groups, the growth in the 55 and older groups is so substantial that it can’t possibly be ignored!

Pew Internet also states that the usage in the over 50 crowd on social media doubled from April 2010 to May 2010.  While the group is still relatively small it is growing very quickly.  This age group is not known for their status updates but the numbers are increasing there as well.  Many are saying that they log in at least once a day and one in ten say they update their status and read other updates.

A digital measurement company, comScore, noted that there are 27.4 million social media users that are 55 and older.  Naturally this pales in comparison to the number of young adults but if you are a business owner you can be sure that this is a great number of people to reach and influence over social media.  The bottom line is to not count any one out!  This is not a platform for the young kids anymore, it is something everyone is enjoying and utilizing!

Social Media, social media users

There are some key elements involved in having a successful website.  If you already have an existing business you will need the same elements as someone who is wanting to build a website just for the purpose of making money online. 

First, if you do not have a business, find what people need and fill the need.  If that means being an affiliate marketing website, find out what products people want and use programs like Commission Junction for affiliate programs.  Some merchants even have their own programs like Amazon.com.

Second, find out what keywords you  need to focus on.  You have to play the search engine game and content is the key.  You need quality content that focuses on keywords.  For example if you have a website that focuses on New York City Real Estate you want to do keyword searches using something like the Google Keyword Tool and see how people are searching for these words and use them!

Third, have a good website design and make sure the site is easy to use.  Have you ever been to a site that had too many pop ups and you just close the window to get away from it.  Don’t be that site.  On the other hand, we have all been to sites where it looks like no mans land or a text book and it is not visually stimulating.  Your site should be put together professionally if you want to look professional.  Take Amazon.com, it does not look like someone built the site from their sofa while in pajamas.  It is fresh, always changing, appealing, customized for you when you return, etc.  It has interactive features and very easy navigation.  These are all very good elements.  Be very aware of the impression you are sending to visitors.  It does no good to draw the visitors in if you can’t make a sale or gain a client.

Last, we need to say it again:  CONTENT!  This is your driving force.  Provide quality information for your visitors.  The web is a great resource but we all know that we have to be discerning.  There is just too much unreliable information out there.  Don’t build a site and neglect your content!  You will not show up in search engines, you will be hard pressed to get decent Page Rank and you will ultimately fail. 

Here are Social Empire Media Marketing we can help you with each aspect.  Please contact us today to see how we can help you with web solutions!

Blog Developement, Building a Website, Content Development, Content Management, Hybrid Websites, Internet Marketing, Internet Strategy, Social Empire Media Marketing, Social Media, Unique Content, website