A LinkedIn Tidbit

LinkedIn is a great Social Network to include in your overall Social Media strategy, especially if you work with professionals and do business to business transactions.

Here is a quick video that LinkedIn released this year on how you can use the LinkedIn Signal feature for your networking and research on LinkedIn :

This is just one way you can use LinkedIn as part of your social networking and social media strategy.

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Social Media and the impact on SEO

In times past, search engine optimization (aka SEO) and social media wouldn't have been used in the same sentence. After all, search engine optimization comprises techniques designed to help boost one's search engine rank placement and social media sites, like Facebook, allow you to connect with your friends or customers in a "social" way.

However, recent changes by both Google and Bing make it clear that these major search engines are looking to social media sites as a way to validate the quality of the content found on websites. Those that make the grade are being rewarded with improved search engine rankings… even in "regular" search.

While there are some differences in the way Google and Bing are using information from social media sites to adjust their indexes, there are many similarities. The search engines are looking at the "authority" of the account holder and placing more importance on any links posted on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

While the links themselves may be "no follow" links, that isn't stopping the search engines from adjusting the indexes and increasing the search engine rank placement for the web pages they point to. In fact, some have said that it appears as though "retweets" are the new form of linkbuilding.

Both Google and Bing are looking at the frequency that a particular link is posted (or re-posted) on the social media sites and are also paying attention to who is doing the posting. If your links are being posted by an individual or business that is considered to be an authority by the search engines, the associated web page may see a boost in its search engine ranking.

This development validates what many marketing experts have believed for more than a year now;  Social media's importance is growing  in the eyes of the search engines and this trend will likely continue. It's well known that Google places a premium on relevant content and quality sites and pages so it should come as no surprise that they are tracking the number of people who liked your content well enough to share it with others.

Those who would like to take advantage of these new search engine trends are encouraged to make it as easy as possible for others to share their content or the links they contain. Adding a "retweet" function to your website or blog, for example, can dramatically increase the likelihood that your content will be shared by your visitors via Twitter.

If you would like to lear more about Social Media SEO you can request our FREE Report by clicking on the image below:

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Social Media Services

Social Media is a critical component of your marketing plan.  We can handle your complete Social Media Implementation from Custom Facebook Pages to Custom Twitter Profiles and everything in between – especially fully integrating your Social Media with your website and blog – creating a consistant image across all networks.

Learn more about Social Media Services that SourceOne Technologies can provide you

See our Custom Facebook Pages

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Twitter is one of the top tools we always start our Social Media clients on.  The other day I came across this great mindmap that did a great job of showing the different types of tools to use with Twitter.  Some of these are just for fun and some are very useful:

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Have you ever wondered how your Facebook Page or Twitter Account compares to your competitors or others in your industry?

There is now a great way to find out using a tool from WildFire called Social Media Monitor.  This tool will allow you to put in your Facebook Page info and the information of the page you want to compare and show you where you stand.  You can also do this with Twitter accounts.

This tool can be found at:  http://monitor.wildfireapp.com/

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Everywhere you turn you are hearing about Social Media and how your business MUST use it to grow and connect with your current and prospective customers and clients.  Unfortunately, however many businesses don’t grasp the power of using Social Media right away and sometimes wonder if the effort of getting on board and getting started is worth it.

We have seen several clients grow their base of Fans and followers and then in turn convert these connections into either new customers or repeat customers from Social Media efforts.  It does however sometimes take a 3-6 month period to begin to build a loyal following and truly convert these supporters to trusting loyal customers.

Today we wanted to share some  great case studies of companies that have embraced Social Media and show the success and profit they have gained from these efforts.

The first example of success is from a business called Healthy Horizons Breastfeeding Center.  This company is now getting about 15% of their business from social networking activities.  You can read more about this Social Media Success story from this USA Today article.

The Crème Brulee Man is another great example of a small business successfully using Social Media.  The Crème Brulee Man operates a food cart and in just over a year now has over 12,000 followers on Twitter.  Every day he announces his location for the day via Twitter.  You can check out his Twitter account at http://twitter.com/cremebruleecart.

Dr. Irenea Vaksman is a Dentist that has done a great job of embracing Social Media and using it to grow her practice.  Dr Irena Vaksman has deployed the following Social Media tools to take advantage of the power of Social Media: a Blog, Facebook Page, Twitter Profile and a YouTube Channel.

Hopefully looking at the above case studies of success with Social Media will convince you that it is not just hype and it can and is a money making and business growing activity.

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Today's tip is all about LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a business network that is meant primarily for business professionals as a place to connect with one another and market tier products and services in a (B2B) business to business environment.

It’s a great way to connect and network with business owners and people in a mutually beneficial way!

You can add links to your websites, blogs and other social profiles. You can also set up groups that are similar to Facebook fan pages, and you can also have other recommend your services in exchange for you recommending theirs.

LinkedIn also has a lot of authority on Google and other popular search engines. If you currently have a LinkedIn profile, try doing a search for yourself on Google. There is a good bet that it will show up on the first page of results.

That is authority ranking and you don't want to miss out on it!

That ends today’s quick tip

If you are interested in help with your Social Media Campaigns please contact us with the form below:

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Today's tip is all about Twitter traffic:

Marketing on Twitter is very easy, but you must be aware that it doesn't always yield the desired result unless it is done properly.

Twitter marketing has to be approached in a completely different way than other forms of advertising because Twitter limits the size of posts to just 140 characters.

This means you must keep your posts very short. This means you can’t ramble on endlessly. You have to get to the point and do it in a way that peeks your follower’s interest and get them to click!

It’s a very good idea to read your Twitter page daily and respond to messages that your followers post.

By interacting with them directly, you can establish friendships. This is very important, because your followers can “re-tweet” (RT) your messages to their own followers, potentially allowing you to reach a wider audience.

That ends today’s quick tip

If you are interested in help with your Social Media Campaigns please contact us with the form below:

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When it comes to successful social marketing one of the biggest

mistakes that many marketers make it that they are too focused on

making money and not enough on socializing. As an end result they

unknowingly spam their followers which often ends up in getting your

posts ignored, blocked or even banned.

When it comes to social marketing it’s very important that you use

social networks as they were intended (to socialize), especially if you

want to see any real results from your efforts.

Always remember to socialize first and promote second! When you do

this you will have no problem attracting hundreds, maybe even

thousands of happy fans, friends and followers that will be interested in

what you have to offer!

That ends today’s quick tip

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Social Media is one of our favorite tools for our clients to use to start reaching the right prospects and turning them into customers and then into cheer leaders for their business.  Getting started with Social Media however can be over whelming to some because although most of the tools are free they do take time to implement, manage and build the community you are building.

Here are some tips that you can use to help effectively manage your time as you embark in using Social Media in your business.

Schedule time for your Social Media Activities

It is a good idea to block out daily time slots to focus on your social media efforts.  In these time blocks focus your time to take care of your Social Media activities.  Reply to any questions you have from followers on Facebook and Twitter.  Read through content of those you follow and take a few minutes to comment on relevant content and to share this with others in your network.  Now is also a good time to share a status update as to what you are up to – be personal.  Remember you should share about 80-90% of content and information and only 10-20% should be sales.

Use tools to Manager your Social Media Activities

There are several tools that you can use to manage your Social Media activities.  These will allow you to be able to monitor what is being said about you and your products or services and to listen for a need.  There are also tools that you can use to schedule your activities.

The following tools are some of our favorites:

Hootsuite: A dashboard tool you can use to manage your postings to multiple networks which include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Hootsuite also lets you schedule your postings and to search for items with particular keywords.  It is a great tool!

Social Mention is a very valuable tool to be able to keep a real time pulse on mentions of your company, brand or any other key words you which to watch in the social scene.

If you do find Social Media overwhelming we are here to help you and can develop a custom package to work with your goals and budget.  If you are interested in learning more just complete the form below.

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