TekkBuzz » social media marketing

2 Ways to Optimize Your Social Media Profiles

debspag — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:26:35 +0000

Social media and search engine optimization are becoming inseparable. In working with social media for some time now, I am discovering over and over how well it works to gain my business visibility. In a few short months, I’ve seen my blog go from almost invisible to a site that is gaining a larger number of visitors each and every month.

I often work with clients who want me to get them started in social media. Some of my clients want me to set up only one social network, such as only Facebook or only LinkedIn. But because of the huge SEO value, I always recommend that they set up a Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Youtube accounts, even if they don’t intend to be active on all four networks. If they decide they don’t want to put as much time on all four acccounts, and only want to update Facebook every week, their other profiles are still going to turn up in search engine results.

To gain the most value with your social media profiles and make them findable, there are a few basics you want to be sure to include in your profile.

1. Link to your website. Always include the URL to your website or blog. If I search for you on Google, and I find your Facebook profile in search results, I know I can go to your Facebook profile and find more information about you. If your URL is in that information, I can easily click on it, come to your website, read more about you, and contact you with the contact information you provide on the site. This uses social media to drive traffic to your website and ultimately to you.

2. Place keywords in key places on your profile. You probably have keywords you use in your blog or with your website to generate search engine traffic. These same keywords should appear in your profile in areas such as titles, headlines, biographical paragraph, descriptions of your business. Using keywords allows you to control what searches find you and your profiles.

Social media profiles offer more ways for potential customers to find you. By implementing these basic optimization techniques, you will maximize our impact on search engines and become more visible to searchers.

Do you have your URL on every social media profile you own?

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2 Marketing Strategies to use with LinkedIn Groups

debspag — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:08:33 +0000

I love it when readers contact me with social media questions. It allows me to share some of the things I’ve learned using social media. And I can show you how to avoid the mistakes I’ve made.

This week I received the following question:

Q. My only question about LinkedIn is are we actually able to advertise our business among the groups?

This is a great question!

Mistake to Avoid: You don’t want to come off to other readers as giving a strong sales pitch for your business. All mentions of your business should contribute to the conversation or point readers to useful information.

Here are two strategies that can work well when participating in group discussions on LinkedIn.

1. Direct traffic to your blog post While in the discussion area, post a discussion about an issue in your business and then provide a link to your site. For instance, I could start a discussion about how to use LInkedIn to establish your company’s brand, then provide a link to my blog post on the topic for viewers to read more if they are interested in the subject.

But what if you don’t have a blog? Here is another strategy:

2. Ask the group for input. If I am a human resource consultant, I could ask the question, “What are some of your challenges when hiring subcontractors?” This would start a discussion on a topic I am knowledgeable about and allow me to provide useful information in the discussion. I can also provide a link to my website or email if readers have further questions for me.

Have you tried one of these strategies before? Did you finding it a good way to connect with more people? Leave me a comment.

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3 Ways Social Media Works For SEO

debspag — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:56:30 +0000

Before I started using social media, if I Googled my name, I would find about four listings for a couple sites where I’d written an article or two, and results from 5K road races I’d run. That was it. Most of the other entries on the page were about other people with my name. One is a doctor. I wonder if anyone has mistakenly thought I was a doctor. That would be uber cool.

As I opened my business, Tekkbuzz Internet Marketing, I knew, if I was going to have any success as a business, I needed to be found when people Googled my name or the name of my business. I, of course, started my blog, adding posts each week about social media. I made sure I used keywords in my post titles, such as social media, entrepreneurs, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

As a social media consultant, I am active every day on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I’m even starting to use YouTube (which is a whole other post).

Now when I Google “Deborah Richmond” or “Tekkbuzz”, I see ELEVEN PAGES of search results that directly relate to my business and myself. What are the results showing? They are showing links to pages of my website, links to specific blog posts I’ve written, to my social media profiles, to guest posts I’ve written for other blogs. The road race results now appear on pages 6 or 7, which is too bad because my results were good!

This is a clear indication that social media is working to make me more visible to search engines. Now a searcher will find all kinds of information about me and my business. They will have a very good sense of what I am all about. And luckily, there are no questionable photos of me and an Elvis impersonator anywhere in the results.

Here are some key ways that using social media helps your search engine optimization:

1) Getting quality, relevant inbound links

A successful social media marketing campaign can result in thousands of new inbound links to your site. Inbound links are one of the most important things that influence the rankings of your site. Put two and two together, and it’s easy to see how social media can be a great way to improve your rankings.

The best thing about this is that the majority (if not all) of the links that come from a social media marketing campaign are natural links; they’re not reciprocated, bought, or solicited.

2) Fresh content = more hooks in the water for search

The more content you have on your site, the more traffic you will snag from search engines. Also fresh content keeps your site updated, which gives users a reason to come back. People don’t want to visit static sites, we’re already too used to sites being social.

3) The engines like frequently updated sites

Feed those indexes with fresh content and get rewarded with frequent visits by the search spiders. Search engines love fresh new content. They will see new content in your Facebook stream, LinkedIn profile, Twitter updates and blog posts. And they will direct traffic to all of those places for you.

When you Google your business name, are you seeing the results you want? Leave me a comment.

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Social Media: Use Your Time Wisely

debspag — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:15:52 +0000

Many entrepreneurs are not eager to get started in social meda because they think it will take hours out of their day. If it does, you’re not doing it right.

A business owner should only set aside small amounts of time throughout the week to keep a social marketing machine running. I spend only 10 minutes a day on Facebook, even less time on Twitter. I get on, update my status, interact with a couple people, see what’s new and get out. Then I do it again tomorrow.

Even blogging doesn’t have to take tons of time. Once a week, I sit down for an hour and write several blog posts. I’ve usually collected some ideas throughout the week, so I simply write 3 to 5 paragraphs on a topic. If I write longer, my audience will not want to read the entire post, so I keep it short. Once the posts are written, I schedule them to post throughout the week. The rest of the week, I only have to return to my blog to answer comments from readers, which takes no longer than reading and answering an email.

Don’t make the mistake of shying away from social media because you think it is too time consuming. It doesn’t have to be. And the ongoing marketing benefits are priceless.

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5 Reasons To Blog for Business

debspag — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:52:05 +0000

1. Build Relationships
Your blog readers are likely to e your best customers, and knowing them better will help you find more just like them. A company blog offers opportunities to talk with your customers in a unique way through the comments area in each post.
2. Build Your Reputation
People like to do business with people and companies they know, like and trust. You may have your mission statement up on your wall in your office, but do your customers know what you stand for? And what you are trying to accomplish? Do they know what’s important to you as a company? You can post about charities you are involved with, share customer success stories, demonstrate solutions you offer and problems you’ve solved, all with the end in mind of building your reputation and brand.
3. Build Customer Loyalty
The more customers know you, the more loyal they become. As you feature different solutions you offer, they are encouraged to do even more business with you. You might also feature some of your best customers and solidify their relationship with you.
4. Build Authority
You may already have a website tat offers a few marketing messages. By starting a blog with good content, you will build authority through blog posts and responses to comments. Potential customers will have the opportunity to get to know you and learn about the solutions you provide for customers.
5. Build Traffic
Blogs are a strong tool for search engine optimization. Search engine spiders like fresh content. A regularly updated blog provides fresh, keyword-rich content that search engines love. This will cause your site to rank higher when potential customers search for your products and services and drive more traffic to your entire site.
Have you started your business blog yet?

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