Do you go to networking events just to collect business cards? If you never spend any time building relationships with people, but instead just collect contact information, what percentage of your contacts actually turn into sales? How many of those sales are willing to refer you to others? Building relationships is important and using that same tactic online will help generate quality leads.
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Sep
27
2010
Review: Postling for Social Media Management
Postling is a web-based application for monitoring and managing brands on social media. It connects up to a variety of social networks, as well as provides tracking of keywords on the web, and tracking of RSS feeds (which can be hooked up to Google Alerts or searches). Postling is specifically targeted to local businesses who need to keep track of what people are saying about their business. Here’s my thoughts…
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Sep
24
2010
How-to: Use Netvibes for Social Media Monitoring
Keeping track of everything that’s going on can be a challenge — especially with social media which moves at the speed of light. Netvibes is a great way to get an eyeball on what’s going on, all in one dashboard. Plus, it’s super easy to set up and also offers customization options if the default isn’t quite what you want. Better yet, you can easily setup a dashboard for each subject you want to monitor, making it simple to switch between. Here’s how to setup Netvibes for your own social media monitoring…
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Sep
08
2010
Social Media in an Hour a Day
You’re busy. You’re trying to run your business and you probably are wearing multiple-hats — marketing, accounting, sales, operations, etc. You want to use social media, but you don’t have a lot of time to spare. While social media can take a lot of time, you can get quite a bit out of it just by devoting an hour a day. Here’s how…
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Sep
02
2010
8 Ways to Increase Social Media Interaction
If you’re just getting started with social media, it can be very frustrating if you’re not getting a lot of interaction. You may feel like you’re putting a lot of effort into creating great content and no one is responding. Unfortunately there isn’t a magic wand that can make you instantly Internet popular, but here are some tips for improving your interaction and getting on the right path.
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Aug
26
2010
Is Social Media a Waste of Time?
Ahh, social media. The golden ticket to increased profits and a life time of wealth. All you have to do is setup a Twitter and Facebook profile and start sending updates and magically people will start following and responding to you.
If you believe this, you’ve been lead down the wrong path. While social media may cost less than other marketing methods, it still requires planning, time and patience. If you just jump in without knowing what you’re doing and what you’re trying to accomplish, you may not get the results you expected, leading you to believe it’s all a huge waste of time.
Aug
19
2010
My Favorite WordPress Plugins
I’ve been using WordPress for several years now — I’m a big fan. It makes it really easy to run a blog (or website) and it keeps getting better. One of the advantages of WordPress is the ability to add your own plugins to improve the functionality of your site. Here are some of my favorite WordPress plugins… (for now).
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Aug
02
2010
The Wrong Way to Social Network
Social networking (using the social web) is about connecting with people — asking questions, having conversations — basically the same things you would do if you were talking in-person. Yet many companies still treat social media like traditional media — as a way to distribute marketing and advertising messages. While social media does provide a cost-effective way to reach a targeted audience for marketing, the real opportunity is in making personal and human connections with that audience. Here are some of the most commonly repeated mistakes I see when it comes to social networking and using the social web:
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Jul
08
2010
18 Things Online Measurement Can Tell You
Measuring, monitoring and tracking your website and social media presences can give you quite a bit of good information. Some information and data requires the use of special tools or techniques, but here are some of what online measurement can tell you:
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Jun
14
2010
Getting Started with Social Media for Your Business
You’ve already taken the first step to getting started using social media for your business when you’ve decided that you want to use it. If you’re not familiar with social media, it’s going to take a bit of learning (just like anything else). And it’s a good idea to get familiar with what social media is and how it’s being used and can be used before you do anything else.
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