Posts tagged social networking

Pinterest, new and exciting but is useful for business?

By Bob Toovey on February 13, 2012

The latest social networking site that everyone is talking about is Pinterest. It was started back in December 2009 but since March 2010 it has been in closed beta. Currently you need an invite to gain access.

The fuss is all to do with the amount of visits per week – 11 million. Well that and how it treats affiliate links, I won’t discuss it here but you can find more about it on llsocial.com.

If you don’t already know about Pinterest…

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

The site is mainly focused on images but you can ‘pin’ video as well.

How can a business take advantage of this new site?

Just because it’s the latest shiny social network it does not mean every business can benefit from it. Remember it is an image based service. Business’s most likely to benefit are,

Photographers
Painters
Web shops with cool photo’s

Well any business that has great photo’s that show off products or works or art.

You can ‘pin’ from a downloadable tool bar for your browser or you can bury small snippets of code in to your web page (see their Goodies page).

The thing that is makes it exciting for business is that ‘pinned’ images carry information of where they came from. Click the image and you visit the site. Great images will be viewed, shared and generate traffic. With 11 million users per week, it could bring an awful lot of visitors.

This entry is filed under Social Networking and tagged million, pinterest, social networking, traffic.

The Benefits of Social Networking for Businesses

By Bob Toovey on January 27, 2012

This is a guest post by James Williams who is the Community Manager for TM International, a Paris-based recruitment agency

Social networking is not a new phenomenon. This won’t be the first time you’ve heard the term and if you are like the many millions of “constantly-connected” professionals out there it’s probably something you do on a regular basis. Networking has always been a great tool for businesses to reap benefits from, and that hasn’t changed. What’s changed is the way we network – what we do and how we do it. As technology continues along its path to world domination it’s becoming much more common for the “traditional” methods of networking to be replaced by new “social” techniques. However, what’s become clear to me is that there are still quite a large number of people who don’t really understand the benefits. Some don’t know why people do it, some don’t know what to do, some are unsure where to do it and some have no idea whatsoever and appear to have missed the whole social media revolution. So this can just be a general recap for everyone on why social networking is so important for your business.

The first area of benefit for social networking is awareness. Now the reason I say area of benefit is because there are a large number of benefits that occur from increased awareness as a sort of “knock-on effect.” Awareness is really the umbrella term under which a multitude of other benefits lie, and I will go on to discuss those. Social networking is the easiest and one of the most effective ways of increasing awareness of your business. The days of advertising in the local paper or magazine are behind us, with TV advertising likely to follow in the next few years. As a business trying to get your name out there you need to be where the people are. And where are these people? On social networks! Facebook’s got 850+ million users, LinkedIn is approaching 150 million and Twitter now has well over 300 million, and that’s not even mentioning the newest social network Google+ which has the fastest growth rate of any social network in history. So if you want people to be aware of your company then, without question, you have to have a presence on social networks.

But people being aware of you is just the start. The more people you reach, the more people will visit your profile on whichever social network. The more people who visit your profile, the more people will visit your website (provided you have included a link to it!). And with drastically increased traffic to your website and social networks there is a much bigger chance of you winning new business. For example, say you have a fan base of 200 on Facebook, a Twitter following of 300 and 500+ connections on LinkedIn. You then choose to advertise your product/service on LinkedIn. This has already reached your connections on that network instantly, and because you’ve linked up your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts, your post has been published on your Twitter feed and on your Facebook page. So before anyone has done anything, in the click of a button you have potentially reached around 1000 people. But that’s nothing! Social networking gives you the perfect opportunity for what I like to call “the ripple effect”. This is similar to the process of things going viral (apart from it’s not a YouTube video of a cat dancing). Your initial reach of 1000 people can be multiplied to an incredible number. Your LinkedIn connections share the post/information with their connections. Your audience on Facebook clicks “like,” sharing that information with every single one of their friends. And finally the people who follow you on Twitter “retweet” it to their followers and so on. That means, providing you post good content, you can grow your initial network of 1000 people to 20, 30, 40 times that. Without sounding too dramatic the possibilities are literally endless.

The problem with increasing the number of people who know about your business is that you are also increasing the potential number of people who can criticize you. However, if you are choosing to opt out of using social networks for your business, what’s important to remember is that people are going to talk about you online whether you have a presence there or not. Therefore social networks give you the opportunity to manage your e-reputation. You can use your social networks as a platform for your customers/clients. You can develop a relationship with them and create a personable online experience which allows the customer to voice their opinion in a way that will not prove negative for your image. By managing your e-reputation you create a much higher potential for customer loyalty, and therefore retention, as well as gaining new customers who will see your positive and helpful image online.

Because of the connection to customers which social networks provide you, social networking can also be a great way to understand customer needs. This can in turn allow you to come up with new ideas for your business or simply improve on previous mistakes because you now have channels which allow constant feedback. And as you know, listening to feedback is one of the most important factors when it comes to business success.

Keeping the customer/client in mind, social networking provides the perfect opportunity to target the right people. Through your social networks you can target relevant industry professionals, whether it be in LinkedIn groups, on a Facebook page or by using the # tag on Twitter. So this means you can implement a targeted marketing effort which will drastically increase your efficiency and effectiveness. It may sound obvious but once you know where your customers are it makes it much easier to communicate with them and social networking allows you to do just that!

And that’s just a few of the benefits that social networking can bring you. It really can’t be stressed enough that social networks are the place to be for today’s businesses, they are essential to your survival. Who knows, in the future the social network may even replace a company’s website.

This entry is filed under Guest Post and tagged business, facebook, linkedin, social networking, twitter.

Mobiles, pushing to hard and what I don’t really care about

By Bob Toovey on December 5, 2011

Hopefully you have chance to watch the video I posted featuring Gary Vaynerchuk.There are several points that hit me while watching it that I want to share.

Mobile, don’t ignore or pretend it’s not there.

Mobile phones are in our pockets, just about everyone seems to have one. Apple made them a ‘must have’ and Google keeps innovating with Android. They connect us to our friends, Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, Google+, the Internet, Email and more.

We go out with our phones, we use them in our homes while watching TV. We share moments with our friends and take pictures that we can’t wait put on Facebook or Twitter. In short, they have become indispensable.

Have you realised how mobiles will affect our lives? Are you ready in your business? Have you started to plan for it?

Social Networking – don’t push!

Show your customers that you want to help them. Demonstrate you have the skills, understanding and the willingness to fix their problem – to help the with their needs. Let the customer ‘discover you’. You can answer questions on Facebook and Twitter with details of your products, how much they cost and when you can ship them. These days, people don’t want a sales pitch in answers to their questions. They need help, if they new what was needed then they would just go off and buy it.

Don’t get left behind or else…

I really don’t care if you think that social media is ‘not your thing’ – it is or will be very soon for your clients.

I don’t care if you don’t like the modern ways, ‘traditional methods have always worked before’. Your customers want to check you out, find out more about the products and see what their friends think of it all – all on the Internet.

I won’t mention that it’s all a ‘fad’, it is totally obvious that it’s not.

If you don’t care then you will be left behind.

Read as much as you can about social networking. See how teenagers or your own kids, are sharing their lives on their mobiles (‘Mum/Dad, gotta watch insert-latest film. All my friends have seen it and they think it’s great).

If social media and mobiles are beyond you, get someone in who understands it! Learn from them, let them develop your business in to the new areas that are up and coming.

If you want to make it through or do better in the next few years then don’t get left behind!

This entry is filed under Business ideas and tagged facebook, gary vaynerchuck, mobile, mobilephones, social networking, twitter.

Google+ vs. Facebook: Google’s battle plan

By Bob Toovey on November 25, 2011

This is the second part in a series of guest posts by James Williams who is the Community Manager for TM International, a Paris-based recruitment agency. You may want to read part one first, part three is here.

In Part 1 I focused on the explosion of Google+ onto the social business scene. I talked about the ever-increasing rivalry between the two tech giants, briefly mentioning some benefits and ultimately recognized Google+ as a force to be reckoned with. What I didn’t do was go into too much detail or discuss the future implications. Now unfortunately I cannot predict the future, but what I can do is explain what is happening right now and offer some suggestions on what I think is likely to happen in the next few months and the New Year.

Already, since Part 1, things have changed. Google+ was getting a lot of negative attention, and had been since its launch. Many people had written it off before even giving it a chance. But, in the last week or so, opinions and attitudes seem to have gradually changed. People are recognizing that Google+ is not a fad and it will not just disappear; it is something that has to be taken seriously. I mentioned a few of its benefits in Part 1 but the key focus was its potential, and its potential is huge.

Everyone wants to know who will win the battle for social dominance. Marketers are dying to find out so they can plan their strategy and know how they need to think. So, will Google+ overtake Facebook? And ultimately can Google beat Facebook?

As you are probably aware by now, this is not a question with a simple, or definitive, answer. The reason it isn’t as simple a question as: who will win the battle? is because the competitors are fighting for different things. Google and Facebook work in completely different ways and they have very different ideas when it comes to what makes the best social site. However, despite these differences, the rivalry between the two will continue to escalate and will without doubt impact you as a business.

So, in this part I am going to focus on what Google are doing (and planning to do) to “beat” Facebook.

Firstly, we have the +1 button. This is the fastest growing social recommendation widget in history, with over 5 billion impressions a day. Not bad. These +1’s are going to be connected to your Google+ brand page. This will allow Google to extend your brand on a global scale; and by analyzing who is recommending you and where you are being recommended, Google can put your brand where people are.

The +1 button is revolutionizing the world of recommendation. You should never forget the fact that people trust people. A recommendation could become more important than your advertising strategy, a reality that becomes a lot more real with the growth in influence of +1’s.

Now, I mentioned Google Direct Search in Part 1 but what does this mean for the future?

“in ‘+YouTube’ goes straight to the Google+ YouTube Page< and automatically adds YouTube to your circles on Google+ for easy following. An on-going relationship gets established through one Google Search. This isn’t about Google — it’s about Plus and your brand, putting you at the center of everything on Google.”

So, Google is giving you the ability to connect with customers in the easiest possible way. You will be able to develop much deeper relationships and this will prove invaluable because relationships are the most important thing in business. Google+ aims to transform your relationship with Google; they want to give you the power.

Another benefit I underlined in Part 1 was the importance of Google+ for SEO, but how will that become influential in the future? This is quite simple. Google+ will become more and more important for businesses because it is your Google+ page that will appear when customers search for you. Google’s updated search engine will ensure that all features of Google+ are inter-connected with all things Google, something which is quite simply going to become crucial to your company’s SEO.

If your business isn’t on Google+, it quite simply should be. But will Google+ beat Facebook? Well, Google+ is going to win but that doesn’t mean that Facebook is going to lose. As I mentioned, they are fighting for different things. Google+ will transform marketing and search branding. They are going to have an influence on you; that much is certain.

For now Facebook remain in the lead, and in Part 3 I’ll look at what Facebook are doing, and what they have to do in the future, to make sure that there remains more than one social superpower.

This entry is filed under Guest Post, Social Networking and tagged facebook, google, Google Plus, social networking.

How to keep your Twitter account looking busy with automated services

By Bob Toovey on October 24, 2011

Twitter is still an important part of social networking . You will read plenty of advice on how to use it and why you should use it. Time is always a limiting factor, so how can you keep you Twitter account looking active?

Create a newspaper based on Twitter lists and users

I created my own ‘newspaper’ that is based on a twitter list of expat businesses in France. It gets published on Twitter once a day and the tweet mentions a few who are in the newspaper. So they get to see it in their time line.

Head over to Paper.li and sign in with your Twitter ID. You can choose how your newspaper content is selected. Take a look at my ‘Expat-business in France‘ newspaper.

Use your Blog and a plugin to update Twitter with your old posts

I use a plugin on my WordPress based blog called Tweet Old Post. It selects posts over a selected time period and posts between selected times. I have set it up to select posts older that 5 days and no older than 15 days.

The latest version has problems, it can stop your blog from working so I recommend version Version 3.2.2, it works just fine for me. Check out the plugin site for exact details. However, I’ve not seen another plugin like it and it really does work. It gives a chance for your Twitter followers to see your post again in case they missed it the first time.

Tweet your new posts automatically

TwitterFeed takes your RSS feed and updates Twitter with you latest posts. It can track who has clicked each link by usng an URL shortening service. Not much to say about this because so far for me, once I set it up it has worked really well.

Timing Tweets for when you are not around

I don’t use services to send out tweets at predetermined times. I write blog posts in advanced and the automated services that I do use take care of the rest. However, many do find them useful, for more check out this brief article on Search Engine Journal, 3 Awesome Ways to Schedule Your Twitter Updates.

Allow Facebook to update Twitter

There is a Facebook app that allows you to sync your Facebook updates with Twitter. It was created by Twitter and is fairly easy to setup. InsideFacebook.com has an article that shows you how, How To Sync Your Twitter and Facebook Status Updates.

Hit the tweet button on other sites

As you read articles on other sites, look for the social media buttons at the bottom (sometimes at the top as well). If you read something that you find interesting then click the tweet button and share it. Do this if you think that your followers will find it interesting, especially if it’s related to your industry.

Automated services can only go so far

While automated services can keep your timeline looking busy, they do not replace you. Don’t forget to tweet responses to ReTweets, Direct messages and mentions. Remember, it is a social network so be social!

This entry is filed under Social Networking and tagged facebook, newspaper, social networking, twitter.

Win more customers by giving your products away for free

By Bob Toovey on September 17, 2011

We all know that word of mouth travels fast. With the advent of social networking, it travels even faster. You need people to say great things about your products, you want them to say it to their friends and anyone else who will listen. How can you achieve that in a cost effective way?

Give your product away!

Yes, give your product away for nothing – free and no cost. I’m not saying all and sundry should get it. Put it in to the hands of a few who can influence others. Those people could be…

Your top 5 customers
Your Facebook fans
Your loyal Twitter followers

I am sure you already know who could spread the word for you.

One way to put your product in the right hands is to offer a competition. Those who really want it will enter and from there you could get email addresses or make them become Facebook Fans.

For example, spread the word that if they become a ‘fan’ of your Facebook page they are in with a chance to win what you are offering. You gain followers which you can then make further offers to.

Give it to someone with influence

Give a product to an influencer or two. In return all you ask is that they write a review on their blog. An authoritative blogger in your industry will be qualified to write about it and therefore will be able to give a better review. Not only will you get a link back to your site but he or she will be encouraging their readership to actually buy it. That blog post will then hit the search engines , possibly be seen on Facebook and mentioned on Twitter.

What happens if my product is expensive?

If you really can’t afford the above approach (your products are really expensive) then consider letting them use the product so they can write the review and give it back afterwards. You could also offer the cheaper alternative, not the top of the range product. Ask the reviewer to mention that there is a product that does more than the one in the review. The one they have is great but the model above does it faster/better but for only X amount more.

I can’t afford to be giving it away!

Think about it, it is something you have already purchased for stock. It’s sitting there waiting to be sold. And to sell it you spend more money on advertising. So why not give it to some one who will rave about it, tell their friends and followers to buy it. Why spend even more money to put it in to customers hands when you can create excitement with a competition on Facebook? Social networking is free and these days, that is where everyone is. Your market is there waiting for you so all you have to do is tell them where you are!

This entry is filed under Business ideas and tagged free, reviews, social networking.

9 very useful things to do with your blogs RSS feed

By Bob Toovey on August 2, 2011

An RSS feed is specially formatted data that can be read by a program, it is not designed for humans. An RSS feed for a blog contains post titles, images and either a summary of the text or all of the text for a blog post. It can be read by RSS feed readers but there is a lot more that you can do with it.

Use it to update your Facebook business page

One easy way to keep your Facebook page updated is with your RSS feed. Check out the many apps that can take your feed and post it direct. I have used Social RSS and Involver RSS App. Easy to setup and keeps your Facebook page looking busy with posts from your blog.

Update Twitter and save time

Two great services you can use to update Twitter with your blog posts are TwitterFeed and Feedburner. Create an account, add your RSS feed and away you go. The benefits of the these services are…

Twitterfeed: Each update to twitter includes the post title and a shortened link to the blog post. That is tracked and you can find out how many clicks there have been for each one.
Feedburner: Not only will it update Twitter with post title etc, but also you can create emails alerts for each new post. If a reader subscribers to them, each time you publish a post they will get an email linking to it, all from your RSS feed.

Send updates to LinkedIn

I really don’t spend enough time on LinkedIn. It’s a wonderful way to network with businesses and professionals. If you are lacking time too, head over to your profile and select edit. Look for the section for adding ‘apps’ and select RSS (keep an eye out for the WordPress logo). Add your feed address and check to make sure it’s found it. Here is my profile with my latest blog posts.

Keep Google informed with Site Maps

Login to Google Webmaster tools and if you have not done so already, add your site and get it verified. In the site map section, you can add your RSS feed along with site map files. Each time you publish a new post, Google will find it not only through it search systems but also through your RSS feed.

Have a friend with a blog?

If you know someone who blogs and it is in someway relevant to what you are doing then ask them to add your RSS feed. My theme allows me to add an RSS widget, I can specify an RSS feed address where it will take the information and display it on my blog’s sidebar.

Make use of your forum profile

Are you a member of a forum? Many have profiles that you can edit, add photo’s and even add your RSS feed. When a forum user takes a look at your profile they will also see your latest posts. It should take minutes to do and is another way of getting your work seen by others.

Use RSS to help with your SEO

Daily SEO tip has a good article,RSS SEO Course: Get Traffic and Index Your Backlinks with RSS feeds) as the title suggests, use your RSS feed to get links back to your site. The article mentions the following RSS directories to submit your feed to…

RSS Mountain
FyberSearch
RSS Clipping
Read a Blog
Golden Feed
Feedgy
GetAPodcast
Postami
Ngoid
Weblogs

Easily create newsletters

Hopefully you have signed up for my weekly newsletter, the summary of the weeks posts that I send out at the weekends. That is created with this sites RSS feed. You can do exactly the same by heading over to MailChimp and sign up for a free account.

Follow your own feed, check for errors!

I use a RSS feed reader anyway, I follow a lot of sites and read lots of interesting things. I have also added my own site so I can check for errors. If I can’t see an update then no one else can. Also, if the feed reader has troubles displaying the post or picks up a formatting error, I will know about it and can sort it out. I really don’t want to discover a problem weeks after it has happened.

What do you do with your feed?

If you have a suggestion or something to add to the list then please leave a comment. By the way, here is my RSS feed address – I know, shameless plug…