Posted by debspag on January 13, 2012
1. Give your fans fun reasons to connect with you. People like a party. Why not have a celebration on your Facebook wall? Forget cake and snacks. Ask your fans to tell you a little bit about themselves. I do this on the Tekkbuzz Fanpage. It’s fun to see the diverse people and businesses who show up on my page. Why not ask fans to tell you a little about themselves? This gives them a way to network with each other.
2. Are you using YouTube to upload videos about your business? Sharing the same videos on Facebook is a great way to catch their attention. You will get more mileage out of the content you’ve already created. Simply paste the YouTube embed code into the Facebook update field. Facebook will bring the video in for you.
3. Sneak Peak: Give your community a taste of things to come to create excitement and suspense. Have a new event coming this year? Let your community know a little about it, but keep the specifics to yourself for now. Just like a movie trailer, this little taste will peak their interest and bring them back again for more information.
4. Personal Insight: Use your Facebook posts to give your fans a little insight into who you are as a person. People want to relate to the products and services they use, and if they learn more about the person behind the page, they will feel that connection with you.
5. Share useful and fun links with your fans. You do not want to bombard them with hundreds of messages like this, but if you find a useful app, page or even an amazing video, do not be afraid to share it with your fans.
Now that you’re starting to use Facebook for marketing, the first challenge is to get your community alking to you. The next step is getting them to talk to each other. The community will grow as more and more conversation is happening on your fan page. Building your Facebook community will allow you to have repeated contact with those people who like what you have to offer.
Have you started building your community? Leave me a comment and tell me how it’s going.
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Posted by debspag on December 21, 2011
Deborah talks to Mari Smith about using Facebook to market your business. Mari, a well-known expert in social media, has a new book called “The New Relationship Marketing.” This is an excellent read for anyone looking to use social media more effectively.
Mari talks about how to use social media to build trust and foster a community. She also talks about how much information we should share about ourselves online.
Margarita Moment:
Deborah shares her latest business success, and how she brought 550 new fans to her Facebook Fan Page in recent months.
Strategy Spotlight:
If you’re wondering how to get more people to “Like” your fan page, then you don’t want to miss the tips shared in the Strategy Spotlight portion of the show.
As always, it helps us tremendously if you leave a review of the show on ITunes. Simply log in to your iTunes account and search for the Tekkbuzz Social Marketing Podcast
Categories: Podcast, social media marketing, Social Media Networking | Tags: | No Comments »
Posted by debspag on November 26, 2011
I’ve been thinking a lot about social media and how it fits into the broader world of internet marketing. As I teach social media, what I’m finding is many entrepreneurs are not aware of a few basic strategies that, when combined with social marketing, really work to convert readers to customers.
1. Opt-in List: Make sure you are capturing emails with an opt-in list. An opt-in list can be managed with online software such as Aweber. They will even give you code for the form and excellent instructions on how to install the form on your site. This online software is super easy to use to send emails to your community.
2. Email Newsletters: Once you have built an email list, this is the tool by which you will have continuous contact with your interested audience. I send weekly newsletters letting everyone know about my latest blog post, with a link back to the site so they can read more.
3. Email Promotions: From time to time, add a message to your newsletters about one of your products or services. Provide a link to your website so people can learn more.
By adding email marketing to your social media strategy, you will be able to continue your conversation with website visitors who have raised their hand, signed up for the opt-in list, and let you know they are interested in your product or service. Don’t miss this opportunity!
Categories: Social Media Networking | Tags: | 1 Comment »
Posted by debspag on November 10, 2011
Interview with Podcast Answer Man Cliff Ravenscraft
In this podcast, we have an interview with Cliff Ravenscraft of http://podcastanswerman.com. I have been listening to Cliff’s podcasts for quite some time. He has turned his love of podcasting into a full business, and shares lots of great information about podcasting and how to get started.
One of my favorite parts of my business is creating the Tekkbuzz Podcast. If you have ever considered starting a podcast yourself, I highly recommend that you jump in right away. It’s a blast and a great marketing tool.
Strategy Spotlight
In case you’re thinking, “I can’t start a podcast, someone is already talking about my topic”, I’ve got some thoughts on where podcasting is going and how under-utilized the tool really is.
Margarita Moment
My Facebook fan list is really growing! I’ll share information on how I’ve been growing my Facebook Fans list and how you can do the same.
Categories: Podcast, social media marketing, Social Media Networking | Tags: | No Comments »
Posted by debspag on September 13, 2011
Everyone knows you can use social media to make new friends and connect with old classmates. But did you know you can use social media to generate qualified leads, reduce marketing costs, and close sales?
There are 5 basic steps to realizing a return for the time you spend using social media to market your business. You want your prospective customer to:
1. Engage with you on social media
2. Go to your website for more information
3. Sign up on your email opt-in list
4. Receive emails and offers from you
5. When ready, buy from you $$$
Using some simple strategies you can coax your prospects to enter this funnel and walk through until they make a purchase.
1. Engage with you on social media
This is the first step of your funnel. Your goal when spending time on social media is to engage prospects. On Facebook and Twitter, you want to start conversations that get people talking to you. For more on starting the conversation, you might want to read 6 Ways to Get the Conversation Started.
When on LinkedIn, participating in groups is a great way to spend your time. You will be able to participate in discussions and make new contacts.
2. Go to Your Website for More Information
This second step is all about driving traffic. You’ve engaged with a friend or fan or follower on social media. Now you want to send them to your website, which is the place you sell your services or products. One of the best ways to drive traffic is by writing a blog, and talking about the new blog posts on social media. The title of a blog post with a link to your site is often all you need to send traffic to your site.
Other ways to accomplish this is to talk about articles you’ve written, product information, or FAQs you might have available on your site. Always include a link so people can easily follow you to your website.
3. Sign up on your email opt-in list.
You must have this form on your website in order to turn visitors into customers. Services like AWeber or Constant Contact will allow you to easily create a form and install it on your website. With this form, readers can sign up to receive a free incentive, such as a free report, or white paper, or video. Once on your email list, readers can manage their own subscription so that everyone on your list is a warm lead, interested in hearing from you.
4. Receive Emails and Offers From You
Now that a reader is on your email list, you will want to send them good useful content on a regular basis. I send good free information to my list every week. These are not sales offers. They are good information that my readers can act on immediately to pump up their profits with social media.
Use the autoresponder feature of your email list manager to create the messages that will automatically arrive in your list members email box on a regularly scheduled frequency. This allows you to automate the process.
Then, every fourth message, include an offer of your services or products to your list. This mix of 3 free content to 1 offer is a good pace for your readers. It allows you to build trust and make occasional offers that people will actually open.
5. When Ready, They Will Buy From you
Not only are you building a relationship by communicating with your warm leads through emails, you are also allowing enough time to pass for your prospect to decide they want to buy from you. Maybe the need wasn’t immediate when they signed up for your list, but eventually down the road you will make an offer and they will be ready to purchase.
The advantage of marketing with social media is that you will have results you can measure. By following these simple steps, you will be able to measure your return on the investment of time you spend marketing your business with social media.
Are you using an opt-in list with your website yet?
Categories: Facebook, LinkedIn, social media marketing, Social Media Networking, Twitter, YouTube | Tags: | No Comments »
Posted by debspag on September 2, 2011
You MUST have a blog if you’re going to market with social media. In this episode, I tell you why and give you ideas on how to write popular blog posts.
Strategy Spotlight: See how Sears uses simple special offers on Facebook to build community.
Margarita Moment: A small win that shows social media really works to bring in real business.
For more information on how to build your social marketing machine, go to http://mysocialmarketingclass.com. See dozens of audio and video tutorials that walk you step-by-step through setting up your own
Categories: Blogging, Facebook, social media marketing, Social Media Networking | Tags: | No Comments »
Posted by debspag on August 15, 2011
In helping clients get started with social media, I go over the same 8 steps with each one as we get ready to start them into marketing their business with social media. If you know you want to get started, but don’t know where to begin, start here. Check of any steps you’ve already accomplished, and tackle the steps you have not yet mastered.
1. Determine your goals
2. Decide who is your market
3. Decide how much time you have to spend on social media
4. Decide who will manage your company’s social media
5. Choose the social media networks you will use
6. Decide on a strategy for your social media marketing
7. Set up social media accounts
8. Begin managing your social media marketing
Yes, this is simplifying the process considerable, but it really does not have to be complicated. This blog will help you with step number 5. It is all about strategy, which networks to use and how to use them.
How many of these steps have you already mastered?
Categories: social media marketing | Tags: social media for business | No Comments »
Posted by debspag on July 31, 2011
Today we have a special interview with David Spark of Spark Media Solutions. David talks to us about content creation, and how to become the voice of your industry, and why it’s so important.
He also shares some of his articles with us. These are excellent so do check them out:
How to Become One of the Most Respected Companies in Your Industry
Looking for a social media strategy? Try this one.
In our Strategy Spotlight, we talk about the importance of collecting industry news and including some in your blog. I show you how to easily collect industry news in no time.
And in our Margarita Moment, I show you how my own social media marketing is truly acting as a customer magnet, and how you can do the same thing.
I invite you to go to http://facebook.com/tekkbuzz, write on our wall and tell us what you do, what your business is, and give us a link to your fan page or website. Let’s harness the power of social media together!
Categories: Blogging, Podcast, social media marketing, Social Media Networking, Twitter, YouTube | Tags: | No Comments »
Posted by debspag on July 20, 2011
You’ve gotten some fans on your Facebook fan page. What do you do with them now?
Get the conversation started!
Winning traffic from Social Media websites is definitely not a numbers game as is commonly mistaken. Yes, it is important to build your audience of fans. But what keeps fans around and coming back to your fan page is engagement, conversation.
Here are 7 tips to getting the conversation started.
Encourage fans to comment. Sometimes it’s as easy as asking fans make comments. You can leave a simple message saying, “Let’s talk”- Encourage Facebook “Likes” off Facebook as well as on Facebook. Look for ways to connect your users and fans with one another. In fact, go on over to http://facebook.com/tekkbuzz and tell me about your business. Include your fan page address so other readers can come like your page.
- Provide meaningful content to your fans. The more relevant your status updates are to your fans, the more likely they will be to comment and share your information. For example, on my fan page, I don’t talk about dog training, because not many of my fans are interested in dog training. They are interested in social media, so that’s what I talk about there.
- Ask questions in your status updates. This one is pretty simple and very effective to encourage a conversation.
Showcase fan contributions with a Fan-of-the-Month program. Choose a fan who has contributed the most on your fan page for the month. Announce the winner on your blog and on your Facebook fan page.- Use give-aways. Giveaways have long been and continue to be one of the most effective branding and promotional techniques there is. Ebooks, gift items, and coupons are just some of the Facebook-specific items you can offer to those that are willing to sign up for your Facebook fan page. You can offer regular giveaways to members to ensure that people follow you over time and as an extra incentive for becoming what is essentially a subscribed member of your fan page.
There are lots of ways to encourage activity among your Facebook fans. By getting people talking, you will have a vibrant, active fan page that will keep people coming back to see and join in the conversation.
Let’s share tips. How are you getting the conversation started on your fan page?
Categories: Facebook, social media marketing, Social Media Networking | Tags: | 1 Comment »
Posted by debspag on June 29, 2011
Setting social marketing goals to save you time
We talk about ways to set goals with your social media marketing. Setting goals will allow you to spend your time efficiently. You will be able to get on the social media networks, get your marketing tasks done, then move on with running your business.
We’ll discuss questions to ask yourself when setting goals.
I also give you some ideas if you’re interested in outsourcing some of your social marketing strategies.
Set goals and stay on track with your marketing
Social Marketing Strategies
Restaurants are using social media in some very creative ways. I’ll show you some of those ideas and talk about how you can use these ideas and adapt them to your business or organization.
Margarita Moment
Being an entrepreneur can be very rewarding. My philosophy is to celebrate the small wins by treating myself to a margarita. I’ll share one of my recent “wins” that I celebrated recently.
Categories: Blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, social media marketing, Social Media Networking, Twitter, YouTube | Tags: | No Comments »
1. Give your fans fun reasons to connect with you. People like a party. Why not have a celebration on your Facebook wall? Forget cake and snacks. Ask your fans to tell you a little bit about themselves. I do this on the Tekkbuzz Fanpage. It’s fun to see the diverse people and businesses who show up on my page. Why not ask fans to tell you a little about themselves? This gives them a way to network with each other.
