Choosing the Right Twitter Hashtag for Your Marketing

By Kathryn Lively

Used to be you'd see a billboard advertising a product or service with a phone number underneath the company logo. Then the phone number became a website address, then a Facebook user name alongside the unmistakable blue square with rounded corners. Today, you are more likely to find advertisements that display none of these things as they are replaced by a hashtag and a simple word.

Take for example, recent advertisements for the HBO series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm." A title card displays the show's name along with #curb. The show doesn't necessarily want you to like a Facebook page or check out a preview on YouTube, but they want you to create conversation. The #curb tag in Twitter or other social networks gets you into an exclusive club of Curb fans - you can search now and see what people are saying, and generate your own buzz among your friends and followers. It's a smart move by HBO and Curb to market the show in this manner, because who can better promote a TV series, book, music act, anything, than an active group of fans?

It's one thing to have a Twitter account with thousands of followers, and another to have thousands of Twitter users actually talking about your products and services. At the end of the day, which do you think is more valuable: a thousand people reading your posts and possibly patronizing your business, or a thousand people each tweeting about your business to their followers, and potentially increasing your visibility? This is not to say you should stop trying to bring in new followers, but this is a great time to shift some focus in your Twitter marketing to encourage positive chatter.

The Hashtag VS. the @Mention

Even if you are new to Twitter, you know the difference between using # and @ in conversation. The @ mention often directly addresses another Twitter user, while the # addresses a specific topic in Twitter that is popular, or "trending," or part of a pertinent discussion. Conference planners often set up hashtags for conferees to follow for information, and fans of TV shows and movies may add a tag to their tweets to generate attention. Fans of "True Blood" converse during the show - just look for #trueblood in Twitter to see the activity.

As you formulate a marketing strategy that involves Twitter, you will want to focus on a unique hashtag people can use when referring to your company. While an @ mention may alert you more easily, not all of these tweets may be visible to everybody, depending on the Twitter client used. Use of the hashtag is better to promote your brand to as many Twitter account holders as possible.

Selecting a Tag

In selecting a hashtag that will identify with your company, you want to be mindful of the following:

1) Make sure it's not already being used. Play around a bit on Twitter and test potential hashtags you would use for your company identity. Your company name or a derivative of it may work, but have an alternative if you find it's being used.

2) Keep it short. People should discuss your company with as much free space as possible. You have 140 characters per tweet, so try to keep the hashtag less than 10% of that.

3) Make sure people know to use it. Let people know the hashtag, and use it often in your own tweets. As followers go by your example they may soon converse on their own about you, and the hashtag allows for easy monitoring.

Having customers talk to you via Twitter is good. When they follow you, it's great. When they talk positively about you on Twitter or anywhere else, you strike gold.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and Twitter marketing services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathryn_Lively

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Be on Top of the Competition With Facebook: Learn What Other Business Owners Miss Out

By Sarah Reyes

Businesses have been on the look out on how to promote their business. Even small business owners are working out ways on how to create massive exposure and traffic to their sites even if it sounds next to impossible at times. Curiosity is what's going on in their minds especially if they would bump into real studies on how Facebook can work for their business.

Is there truth behind those studies?

Promoting business names and ideas are curious areas to consider for business. For sure, many entrepreneurs out in the field are wondering how these ventures work and how much they cost. The big question is, "Does Facebook work for all businesses and their needs, when it comes to promoting webpage visibility and increasing revenues?" Well, the answer is depending on the type and nature of business being promoted or advertised. Every company, in fact, has their own target audience.

Facebook World...

There are different angles considered when it comes to marketing and brand promotion. Facebook has a distinct medium that functions for them, for their advertising partners and for their users. Does everybody win in the system?

Millions of Users...

Recognizing that Facebook has now over 500 million subscribers with more than half of them using the site everyday, this is a promising medium that businesses can use to boost their website visibility, converting traffic to sales in the long run. This popularity makes Facebook as the"#1 Social Media Network," being the most in-demand and most used by both small and large business owners. Why?

Most Effective Tool for Marketing Online Business

With many available applications that businesses can use for marketing campaigns, truly, Facebook, is the most effective tool for marketing online businesses. These allow business owners to convert traffic into sales through different tools are employed in the site.

How Do You Promote Your Business Using Facebook?

Like Button

Once you incorporated Facebook's "Like Button" on your website, you will notice an increase in visitors your website creates daily. Your guests just simply click on this button, showing they like your web page. Because this will appear on your guests' walls, their friends automatically see it. Once those people get curious and click on the link, there will be automatic visits to your webpage.

Isn't that instant traffic?

If there are many Facebook users visiting to your site through the "Like" button, this will go a long way and spread across the globe. This will invite new visitors to your site, increasing your potential of getting a sale for your products or services.

Fan Pages

Businesses can set up as many fan pages as they like but they will be completely different from their personal pages. These allow companies to promote their online businesses, promoting them at no extra cost.

To start: 

1. Login to your Facebook account.
2. Click on "Account."
3. Click on "Manage pages."
4. Read on the Facebook guide on how to set up your fan page.

Your fan page contain information about what your business is about, including your business URL, contact number and address, products or services, pictures and others. Once people who liked your page become your "Fans," this will help go viral and more visitors will frequent your webpage.

Advertisements

Advertising on Facebook is easy to set up that can be in the form of "pay-per-click" or "pay per impression" ads though they differ from PPC ads because they merge photos. Facebook also gives you access to the demographics of users that you want to promote your ad to.

You can advertise based from the gender, place, interest and more of your target audience. Use an eye-catching image with your advertisement. Read the terms of service on Facebook since there are products they don't let to advertise like MLM businesses.

"Be on Top of the Competition"

Facebookintroduces innovative ways on how to maximize your business potentials. This new medium works for small and large businesses that can use the site to convert traffic into profits. Discover how Facebook can promote your business and reach a massive volume of consumers in a short time. Learn how visitors will "Like" your page and become your "Fan." "Advertise" wisely and stay on top of the competition.

The author is an expert in social media marketing. She is writing topics about Facebook, and how it can promote your online business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Reyes

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Check Out Some Twitter Marketing Tips

By Scott Taylor-McCormick

In case you don't know Twitter is the latest of the social media websites. It is a place where individuals can chat in a sort of micro blogging style. Businesses understanding the power of the Internet and the value of word of mouth advertising are starting to use Twitter as a means of getting their product or service known to a large audience of people, some even getting their products/services to go viral! They can't just jump on Twitter and act like it is an advertising platform for them to hawk their wares, this will lead to absolutely no interest at all in your product as it will look "spammy". They need a few Twitter marketing tips so they can learn to chat or twit with their followers in a way that will get them to follow you back and hear what you have to say and click your links when your Tweet them.

The first of the Twitter marketing tips that you must understand two things and keep both of them firmly in mind. The purpose of Twitter is to gain a following and to do that you have to communicate interactively. You will need to respond in real time or by leaving tweets that your followers will want to see. This way they will tell their Twitter followers who follow them and in turn will possibly follow you when they see your Tweets. This will then lead them to click your URL link to your commercial site to take a look at what it is that you have to offer. In kind you should also follow them to their sites and see what they have to offer.

Another of the Twitter marketing tips is you need to make sure you know everything about any product or store or service you want to mention. This is the way you get people to start following you to learn more about what you have to offer. They will also tell their Twitter followers about this person that can tell them everything they want to know about your product or service.

One of the absolute most important of the Twitter marketing tips is you need to take the time to learn how to communicate Twitter style. If you sound like you don't know what you are doing you will get very few followers and they will most likely just be people that want to educate you on how to act and communicate on Twitter.

These are just some beginning tips and more will be posted on my website http://www.Twecrets.com where I reveal how businesses can really leverage Twitter for their marketing efforts.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Taylor-McCormick

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Learning How To Use Twitter

By Scott Taylor-McCormick

If you've heard of Twitter but never considered joining, you may be mistaken in your first impression. If you don't hurry, you could be left behind. This is actually a very serious program that helps people who are very excited about either a subject or a business. You can learn a lot from others on Twitter as well as help others who are interested in your business ideas. The trick to it is to learn how to use it. Nothing is more frustrating than trying a new program out and not knowing which end is up. Here are a few hints as to what to do when you learn how to use Twitter:

In order to get someone to follow you, you need to display your Twitter line. It would look something like, "http://twitter.com/[Your Twitter Name]-E.C (or) "http://Twitter.com/Lynnlink59".

The second thing you would need to do is use a signature that you can use in forums. It would look like "@[Twittername]"

You can use a widget like ("insert" first name & last name's Twitter for Word Press) for your most recent tweets on your word press blog.

One thing that is very important is that when you are writing your blog you shouldn't break some web design rules, such as not using contrasting, bright colors on your blog or using moving text and pictures on your blog. It just doesn't look right and it actually irritating to your viewers.

Now another way to learn how to use twitter is that you have the option of following other Twitters if you like what they have to say or if they have an interest in common with you. You should be very particular about who you follow. Make sure this person has the language and common interests that you would find interesting that you want to know more about what they have to say on a subject. You can do something called a "Retweet" to complement them on their blog. You do this by inserting a very short note about why you think what they said was valuable. When you make such a "Retweet," if they are up to par on the etiquette of Twitter, they will write you a "Thanks" note for your comments.

Now when you learn how to use twitter, you'll be very enthusiastic about what others have to say and how others react to your information, as long as you write valuable information that others find interesting. You will also learn some very important golden rules, such as, always acknowledging or thanking anyone who answers you directly or retweets one of your tweets in a timely manner. Also if anyone tweets about you, thank them for that. (A tweet is a good comment about your blog).

Hopefully this will help you get started learning how to use twitter. I hope you find this a very helpful experience, and now its time for you to get your feet wet, So start tweeting.

Interested in continuing to use Twitter for market your business effectively? Please visit my website where I share my experiences about Twitter as a marketing platform and more importantly what works best. http://www.Twecrets.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Taylor-McCormick

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There Are More Than Four Social Media Sites

By Nick A Stamoulis

Any smart marketer will tell you that you need to be where the people are. In today's hyper connected world, that's on social media. Social media has become a part of the daily lives of millions of people across the world. Sure, the first site that comes to mind when you think of social media is probably Facebook. Then, maybe Twitter. If you're in B2B, maybe LinkedIn crosses your mind and most recently, Google+ might be on your radar. These are definitely the big ones, but if you're going to incorporate social media into your online marketing strategy, it's important to realize that while these four sites are currently the most popular, there's really many more than that. Wikipedia has a list of over 200 well known social networking sites, and there are even more that aren't as well known.

Obviously, you should have a presence on Facebook and Twitter. That's a no brainer. If you cater to a B2B audience, LinkedIn is also important. Even if you don't cater to a B2B audience, it's still not a bad idea to set up a page. You never know what kind of potential business opportunities can come from the connections that you make. Business networking is important in any industry. Google+ doesn't yet allow business profile pages, but that will change soon. Even if you can't set up a business page now, it's a good idea to set up a personal page just to get comfortable with the medium so that when business pages are made available you will know what you are doing.

Once you've covered your bases with the "big guys", it's time to start doing some research. The big social media sites have millions of users, so you know that members of your target audience are using them. It isn't as obvious with some of the smaller sites.

The first place to look for additional social media sites is within your niche. Search for "your industry + social media" and "your industry + network". Even include your location in the search since some niche networking sites cater to a local audience. Search for competitors and prominent people that work for competitors to see if you can find any additional social pages for them. Finding a good, quality niche social networking site can sometimes be more beneficial than a Facebook page because there is less noise. People use Facebook for many reasons and sometimes it's hard to compete and get your message noticed. On a niche site, all of the members share a common interest and it's easier to find the information that you want.

In addition to finding niche social sites, see if your target audience is using other, less well known networking sites. Do they use social bookmarking sites? If so, it makes sense to share your content there too. In addition to getting noticed by your target audience it will also add one more link to your link portfolio improving your SEO efforts.

Nick Stamoulis is a Boston SEO consultant and owner of the company, Brick Marketing. For more information, please visit: http://www.brickmarketing.com/

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Internet Marketing Tips For Your Business - Use YouTube To Reach Social Media Prospects

By Brian B Dawson

When it comes to Internet marketing tips for your business to get the most customers for your business, one of the best ways to get your message out on the Internet today is to use the second largest search engine on the planet. This search engine is YouTube. Google bought YouTube a few years ago. So combined, Google and YouTube still dominate the search engine arena on the Internet.

YouTube is now considered to be a major social media component to Internet advertising since it has features now available to interact with other Internet users similar to other social media components such as Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn.

So how do you use YouTube in the most optimal way to get more customers for your business?

Well you have to do the following:

1. Establish Internet Presence For Your Business

First, you would decide how you want to establish or brand your business online.

Do you want to establish it by:

• your business name - Sure Flow Plumbing
• your name - John Smith, Plumber
• the products or services your business provides in your local area - San Diego Plumbing

As a local business owner, if more people in your area know you by your business name, then you would use your business name for this online presence. On the other hand, if most people in your town know you by your name, you could use your name for this purpose.

Many times business owners have advertised on TV or radio and have established a brand already of some sort. This previous advertising could be used as a branding springboard to further promote what has been established from previous advertising methods.

2. Set Up Customized Graphic Background For Branding

Set up and customize your YouTube graphic background on your YouTube channel. There are many places you can find on the Internet to get a graphic artist to make this branded graphic background for your name or your business name that you decided on in step 1.

Keep this graphic background consistent with all of your Internet media channels such as Facebook, and Twitter, YouTube, and even your websites. In this way people will recognize you not only by your name, your business, but also your branded graphics on your sites.

3. Optimize Channel - General Description With Keywords, Website Link(s), Targeted Channel Tags

Optimize your YouTube channel by writing a general description using the keywords that are appropriate to what you want to promote as a niche for your business. Also provide a link so that people can be directed to your website pages. In this way, they will be able to find your products and services and buy them from you more easily.

Also have targeted channel tags - keywords selected - so the YouTube search engine can direct people to find your information you've displayed on YouTube - mainly your videos that you produced about your products or services.

4. Publish Videos - Professional Quality Information Videos, Answers To Questions Videos, Testimonial Videos

Now you have your YouTube channel set up correctly to attract potential prospects and customers to your channel by the use of your name or business name, background graphics, and specific keywords about your business. Next, it's time to produce and publish videos about your business.

The best videos are those which attract attention of potential customers. Typically people want to get answers to questions when they go to YouTube to watch videos. So if you can answer the questions that most people ask about your business, you will be seen as an authority or an expert in this area of your business. If you can answer these questions in the form of a video, this is an even better way to communicate to them!

Sometimes people also like to watch testimonial videos to see what other people say about your products or services. So you might want to have some of your customers give a testimonial video on how well they liked doing business with you and what they liked about you and your business.

Another way to show people about your products or services would be to shoot a video of you demonstrating or performing a task on how your product or service works.

5. Add Friends And Subscribers To Your Channel

Now you are ready to add more friends and subscribers to your channel so that more people see your videos and the information about your business. One of the best ways to do that is to invite other YouTube users to become a friend of your channel and/or to subscribe to your channel. Once someone has subscribed to your channel, every time you produce a new video or post a bulletin about your business, they will be notified in an e-mail sent to them.

Once you build a list of friends and subscribers you can periodically send them information about your business. These may be coupons, special offers, new information, links to other pages that you want them to see, and much more!

For more ways Internet marketing can make your business or practice grow, see the resource box at the bottom of this article to get more information.

Finally, the internet marketing scene is constantly changing - so what worked in the past may not work well now. To get the most up to date information on the best way to advertise and market your business, see the resource box at the bottom of this article.

Thank You Business Owners,

Brian B Dawson

This article is a part of a series of articles on "Internet Marketing For Your Business" which can be found at http://www.CustomerFinderMarketing.com/blog/. Find out how to get your website to convert people who search online to buy from you. Request a business web presence analysis score for your business to see how you rank in relation to your competitors. We have specialized online marketing tools to boost your business web presence ahead of your competitors. When this happens, more people will buy from you! Visit http://www.Profit88.com to request this analysis report at no charge to you!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_B_Dawson

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Top 4 Ways to Make Most of Your Facebook Page

By Jeff R Matthews

You are missing out massively if you do not have a Facebook Fan Page for your business. With over 350,000,000 active users, Facebook can help grow your business rapidly and massively. Beside the massive potential customers you would meet on Facebook and other social media platforms, Google is now including social media sites' contents in their search results.

Here are some of the things you can do to take the best advantage of your Facebook Fan Page:

Attract people to become part of your Fans

As soon as you've created a Fan Page, your next effort is to get people to become part of your Fan base. The use of giveaways or freebies is one of the most effective ways of building your fan base on Facebook and other social media platforms. Any type of freebie (which should also be cost-effective) would do - something like $5 off coupon on purchases made within a specified period would be an excellent incentive.

Establish a personal relationship with your fans

The type of relationship that exists among people on the internet is usually impersonal in nature. Developing a personal relationship or connection with people is more result-oriented. The best tools for establishing interpersonal relationship with people include pictures and video. You can use pictures that feature samples of your company's work as well as events. Video works in similar manner as pictures. Don't forget to involve your staff in your fan-base building, by asking them to submit captivating content about your business.

Keep rolling out valuable content

This is a great way to give people reasons to come to your page often. Keep the content concise but rich - such that would be difficult to resist. Don't wear a high sales tone, keep it tactful and at the same time enjoyable. If you have new line of products or service, this is a good place to point it out.

Keep the line of interaction open always

Of course, the whole essence of social media is interaction; so, if you keep the line of interactive communication with your fans closed, you may lose them faster than you can imagine. Be the one to initiate the communication, don't wait for it to happen.

Organize an interactive contest that would initiate interaction between your company and your fans - you must attach a price to this contest. Also, another way to initiate interaction with your fans is to come up with a poll that requests for users' opinions regarding an interesting as well as important subject. Also, provide puzzles and games that are relevant to your business's theme or offerings.

It is also a great idea to peep at your competitors' Fan Pages to know what they are doing, especially those that are making much waves on Facebook and other social media platforms.

Jeff Matthews is a freelance writer who wrights about Internet marketing ideas To know about this subject and Jeff please visit http://www.aceinternetmarketing.net

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Internet Marketing Tips For Your Business - Use Facebook To Reach Social Media Prospects

By Brian B Dawson

As you know, today Facebook is one of the leading places where people correspond with each other on the Internet. As a result, you can capitalize on this communication movement to promote your products and services for your business.

Like anything else there are certain rules or best practices and tips that will make this task easier for you.

Here are some basic steps to consider when you use Facebook to promote your business.

1. Establish Facebook Presence

Currently on Facebook you can have a fan page which can be used as your business page - or fan page as it's sometimes called. And you can also have a profile page which would be used to post information of a more personal nature about yourself.

One particular rule of thumb would be to post 80% of business posts on your business page with 20% personal posts for this page. And for your personal profile page, post information to the opposite of these percentages.

In this way people going to your personal profile page will find out more personal information about you and people going to your business page will find out more information about your business.

Facebook makes changes from time to time about these pages and the rules regulating these pages. So the recommendations noted here may change as time goes on.

it is important to brand your Facebook fan page as much as possible so that when people come upon your page they can easily recognize what you are all about as a business and what you have to offer. This will give them instant recognition of your "brand" which could be your business purpose, mission, business fulfillment strategy, or business personal relations target achievement, etc.

Optimize Your Profile

In this regard, it's important to optimize your profile - give information about you and your business so that people can easily find out about what you have to offer in your products and services of your business.

Website Link

Be sure that you put your website(s) links in this profile so that people can easily go to your website to find out more about you and your business. A tip here is to put your website in "camel case" format. An example of this would be is: "http://www.YourDomain.com" where the Y and the D are capitalized. This makes it easier to read your website domain, and people will more readily click on it or visit it.

Lead Capture/Welcome Tab

It is also important to build a lead capture or a welcome tab so that people will "Like" your page. After they have liked your page they will receive notification of future postings on your page. In this way they will be able to keep up-to-date with the information that you are posting all in your Facebook site.

It is a good idea here to give people who "Like" your page something of value that they will find enticing and rewarding once they receive it.

With all this done, you have set up the basics for establishing your Internet presence with your Facebook site.

The next step will be to add updates to your site so that you can get more people to participate using your site and thereby be directed to your business linked websites so they can find out more about how to buy your products and services.

2. Post Updates

Now when you post updates to your site, you want them to be newsworthy and about your business or your industry that you are promoting. This will give information to people about your business or industry and prompt them to find more information out about you or your business by clicking on a link which would take them to your business website directly.

In this way, with this linking strategy, you can also send them to articles or videos you have produced about your business products or services. Another great way to direct people on your Facebook page would be to post a link that they can click on to go to these particular sites and read more about you or watch a video that describes more in detail what you are promoting.

Done correctly, they will find this both refreshing and rewarding and they will eventually become customers for you. and they will become influencers to their friends. They will refer their friends to your Facebook page or your website.

3. Friend Influencers

Since Facebook is a very social Internet platform and people discuss all kinds of things on it, certain people are very influential in their Internet presence already. Is a good idea to "friend" these people and endeavor to be "friended" back by them. This is because they have influential friends in their group or they are part of other groups that have influential buyers in them who will want to buy from your business or company.

For more ways Internet marketing can make your business or practice grow, see the resource box at the bottom of this article to get more information.

Finally, the internet marketing scene is constantly changing - so what worked in the past may not work well now. To get the most up to date information on the best way to advertise and market your business, see the resource box at the bottom of this article.

Thank You Business Owners,

Brian B Dawson

This article is a part of a series of articles on "Internet Marketing For Your Business" which can be found at http://www.CustomerFinderMarketing.com/blog/. Find out how to get your website to convert people who search online to buy from you. Request a business web presence analysis score for your business to see how you rank in relation to your competitors. We have specialized online marketing tools to boost your business web presence ahead of your competitors. When this happens, more people will buy from you! Visit http://www.Profit88.com to request this analysis report at no charge to you!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_B_Dawson

5 Facebook "Don'ts"

By Lori Robertson

The 5 things you should not do on Facebook:

1. Don't post your corporate link.

When you constantly post your company link it turns people off.

2. Don't let every post on your wall be about your opportunity.

You want people to learn more about you and what you do but instead of only talking about your business let them see that you are a real person, share some tips, training or just some things about yourself.

3. Don't post YOUR business opportunity or corporate link on other people's walls.

This is the most annoying thing that you can do, it turns people completely off and it will cause people to delete you as a friend.

4. Don't use cheesy sales pitches.

Stop saying that you have the greatest comp plan in the world and it's the best thing out there, it literally saved my life, etc, etc. You know what I mean, it is so old and by the way, everyone thinks they have the best comp plan.

5. Don't post negative things about yourself, another person or business opportunity.

This will attract more negative people to you and all of the positive people that you want will not want to have anything to do with you. Remember birds of a feather flock together.

I know some may say that it is their own Facebook page and they can do whatever they want to and they are absolutely right. My only reason for bringing this to light is that these are the things that will prevent you from making money.

So if you are on Facebook to help grow your business then please "DON'T do these things if you are not there to grow your business please continue to do what you always have done and get the same results that you are getting now.

A smart networker always evaluates what works and what does not, this my friend does not.

When you take the time to really learn the correct way to do Facebook marketing and any other social media marketing not only can it be a lot of fun and you can meet a lot of great people and form new relationships, but it can also be very lucrative as well.

This type of social media is going to be around for a long time, so learn all you can about doing and more importantly about doing it the right way!

Lori Robertson is a Top Online Marketing Consultant. She wants to help you succeed as he is helping people all across the country succeed beyond their wildest dreams.

For FREE Facebook training please take a moment and visit: http://fbtraining.withlori.com

For personal development and marketing tips visit my blog:
http://www.workwithlorirobertson.info

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Facebook Page Vs Facebook Group - Which One Should I Use For My Business?

By Catherine Quel

Facebook, on the surface, seems pretty simple. You post comments and photos, people can view them and they can like them and comment on them. However, when you really dig into the mechanics of Facebook, it can get a little confusing. Especially, if you have a business and you are not sure whether you want to create pages or groups or both.

How do you determine which one you need or if you actually need both? I will attempt in this article to explain the differences between the two and how each can help your business.

Let's start with what exactly is a Facebook page. A Facebook page is a page created in your Facebook account. Pages can have friends, you can put pictures on them and people can post things to your page. Your page will consist of two walls, one that the page owner writes on and one that the page fans write on.

So, what then is a Facebook group? A group is different than a page in that you can decide who can belong to the group. It can be open to everyone or it can be open to only a select group of people. If your group is a closed group, you would have an administrator to monitor the group and approve people to join or invite people to join.

So, how do you decide which to have for your business?

If you have a business, you probably want to have a Facebook page. Having a page will allow you to interact with a lot of people whereas a group will limit you to 5,000 members. So if you are sending out emails to your group, you would be limited. If you want to update your page, you can send updates from the page to your fans and there is no limit as to how many fans you can send the update to.

Also, if you have a fan page, fan pages don't have any inboxes. So, people can't do any personal communications with you via your fan page.

If you have a business, you would most certainly want as many people as possible to view your page. You probably would not want to limit the number to 5,000. You can, however, set limitations on your page visitors by setting up age and location settings in the profit. So, you would have some control over who is viewing your page.

If your business is hosting events, you can create events in both pages and groups. If you have an event that is open to only a certain group of people, you can form a group and then update that group of people to those types of events.

One thing to note, a Facebook page will be indexed by the search engines while a group will not. So, if you want your business to be indexed by the search engines, you will need to have a page.

If you have a business, you will most likely want to advertise. You can purchase ads to promote either your Facebook page or your Facebook group.

Bottom line, if you have a business you can benefit from using pages or groups, depending on your type of business and how you want to communicate with your Facebook fans.

By the way, do you want to learn more about using Facebook for your business? If so, download my free Facebook report here: CLICK HERE

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Catherine_Quel

Why Twitter is Not Destroying Your Life

By: Lauren Moccio

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT THE GROTTO BLOG.

In the short yet incredibly pervasive life of Twitter.com, opinions of the site and its relevance to our culture have been pretty enthusiastic on both sides, without much of a middle ground. Some have hailed it as having more cultural importance and more efficiency than broadcast journalism, and some react with abject horror at the very mention of the website that is destroying the Western world as we know it.

Now…everybody calm down for a second. Twitter may be powerful, as is most obviously illustrated by the incredible ability of whoever the hell is running that thing to constantly duck the Iranian authorities during the aftermath of their “election,” andallowing protesters and freelance journalists alike to exchange information with the outside world. That said, it probably is not going to surpass the outreach of broadcast news any time soon, and conversely, it is certainly not responsible for the downfall of humanity. Ironically, the blogosphere represents the pantheon of Twitter haters, people who cannot believe that any intelligent person would ever use this website, and how it represents the dumbing down of the West, and nobody cares what you ate for lunch, and general tearing and rending of garments.

Of course, this has happened before. It happens every twenty or thirty years or so. This time, however, we’ve broken the pattern. See, we as human beings tend to have essentially the same conversations and basic questions and exchanges of information as the generations that preceded us—from “will there ever be peace on Earth?” to “is there a God?” to “I love you,” to “my God is better than your God, therefore I hate you,” to “life is absurd and hilarious and beautiful, therefore I love you,”—you get the idea. It’s old news by now, or at least it should be. The thing that trips us up is that the lens through which we view and exchange this same information, and the speed at which we view and exchange this same information, keeps changing. The last major change—before the Internet as a whole, that is—was probably that big, scary, blinking picture box in the living room. The one that was going to kill the film industry and eliminate human emotion and traumatize the children and turn them into turnips.

Of course, none of this ever happened, and the Baby Boomers knew it wasn’t going to happen. This didn’t stop the Silvers, a.k.a. the Greatest Generation, from being terrified that television was the worst thing that ever happened to humanity, and when that turned out to be false, from transferring that same fear to the personal computer, along with some of the older Boomers. I knew someone in high school whose grandmother was convinced that their home computer had a secret button somewhere that would alert the Russians to come bomb the crap out of us because we were all on the dadgum ‘puter and wouldn’t be paying attention. No, I am not making that up. Of course, that never happened, either. Despite this fact, the fear remained for a lot of people—ironically again, many of these people love television. Television is a brilliant invention. There is an intimacy and a trust that is innately formed when people like Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings and Anderson Cooper come into your home, and tell you, “Look, I know this is scary. I’m scared, too, and sad. But we’re strong people; we have been through worse, and you have journalists looking out for you and telling you what the deal is and holding people accountable, and this too shall pass.” Do I sound sappy? Sentimental? Deeply attached to my fellow man? Good. I am. And so is the rest of my generation. People may claim that we’re all running around glued to our Blackberrys and have lost all ability to make true connections with one another. There is a grain of truth to this, but anybody who was in New York during the aftermath of 9/11 knows it isn’t really true. Anybody watching the protests for same-sex marriage and the vigils trying to bring Laura Ling and Euna Lee home knows it isn’t really true. Anybody paying attention to the extraordinary emotion all around the world surrounding the inauguration of President Barack Obama knows that for Generation XYZ, it sure as hell isn’t true.

The reason I said that this pattern has been broken by Twitter is because of the ages of the people doing the complaining. If we were following the pattern we’ve been repeating since time immemorial, then we should expect the Baby Boomers to be having a heart attack about Twitter and how it’s the end of the world, and won’t someone think of the children. Bizarrely, it’s not them, at least not dominantly. Many Boomers, particularly stay-at-home mothers who run online businesses, have realized that Twitter is a much more effective way of building traffic to your sites and links than Facebook or any other social media website could ever hope to be. That’s certainly been my experience. Surprisingly enough, it seems to be largely Generation XYZ-ers who are panicking about Twitter and how it’s ruining the web, and how they don’t want people “tracking their every move,” as if Twitter (likely powered by the Russians) crawls inside your brain and extracts your innermost secrets.

Going back to the pattern…the television industry is also loaded with crap, and false prophets. While television has presented us with wonderful entertainment and up-to-the-minute news, it has also provided us with a lot of shameless vulgarity and ugliness—after all, you can’t really put Flava Flav and Charlie Rose in the same category; can you (please say no)? However, so has the print media that came before it (Rupert Murdoch, are your ears ringing?). Those of us who live in the West have the freedom to pick and choose which television stations we watch, which newspapers we buy and which websites we visit just as we choose our places of worship, and it amazes me that people don’t realize that Twitter offers the exact same options.

Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar (who now tweets, by the way), two people who produce five hours of live television per week that basically consists of them giving us their opinions, have called people who do the exact same thing using Twitter “egotistical”—on national television. It’s enough to make you think you fell down the rabbit hole. In reality, you don’t have to follow your boring neighbor who tweets about his ham sandwiches any more than you have to watch “Denise Richards: It’s Complicated” (please don’t) nor read The New York Post (seriously, please don’t do that). And people aren’t “tracking your every move” through Twitter any more than the Russians are spying on you through your television set, because you alone decide what you post. If you don’t want me to know you’re having some sort of intimate moment with your inflatable friend, don’t tweet about it. The freedom is yours, folks. Yet for some reason, people refuse to realize this, and prefer to gripe. And one thing is definitely changing—they’re griping younger and younger.

Agree? Follow me on Twitter @TheGrottoTweets. 

The Number 1 Reason Caribbean Business Owners Must Have A Facebook Page

By Tony Puckerin

Building Local Caribbean Business With A Facebook Page

Most Caribbean business owners still do not understand the importance of establishing a web presence. Social networks like Facebook provide a simple solution.

It is by no means the ultimate or only solution but the most inexpensive. A web presence is much more than a web site, a blog or Facebook business page. A true branded presence incorporates all these element with a defined purpose.

Today, we want to demonstrate the importance of Facebook to Caribbean business owners by using Internet statistics on the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

Trinidad and Tobago is one of the more progressive islands in the Caribbean in terms of Internet penetration, accessibility and usage. This twin island country cannot be considered the typical Caribbean example but even in its developed state it includes the inherent typical Caribbean flavored culture, mores, prejudices and myths about the Internet. Most importantly, it is the only one that we can articulate with the authority because we are based here.

Everybody in Trinidad and Tobago knows Facebook. If they are not registered users they have at least heard about it. Facebook has become synonymous with the Internet in Trinidad and Tobago. Children as young as 13 year old have a Facebook account.

Many resist and refuse to join what they call the "madness". To justify their position they refer to it as the "maco site". You could find out "people's business" without leaving your house. That's no myth, it's true but you have to be interested in "peoples' business" or you could be interested in your own.

Let's review some statistics to demonstrate why Facebook should not be ignored by local Caribbean businesses.

There are figures gathered as of March 2nd 2011. According to the statistics there are:

Exactly 403,860 people 13 to 64+ years old registered on Facebook who actually live in Trinidad and Tobago. With a census population of just over 1,228,691 according to World Stats, it means that approximately a third of the population in T&T are registered on Facebook.

The total internet usage in Trinidad and Tobago is reported to be 485,000 representing 39.5 % of the total population now get online.

Eighty three percent of the people on the Internet in Trinidad and Tobago are registered on Facebook.

Compare the 33% of the total penetration on the Internet in T&T to the 77% penetration in the United States.

Would you imagine that there would be a greater percentage of people in the US registered on Facebook?

Not so, the US penetration is only 43% compared to T&T 83% Facebook penetration.

As we said before Facebook has penetrated the psyche of Trinbago culture almost as much as the Internet it is also free for a business to establish an account there. There is absolutely no reason why every Caribbean business owner should not have a Facebook business page.

Here are some other interesting Facebook statistics on Trinidad and Tobago. Facebook calls this the "estimated reach", i.e. the number of people in a particular age group in Trinidad and Tobago that Facebook reaches:

• There are 218,040 people on FB who live in Trinidad and Tobago between the ages of 18 and 25 inclusive
• There are 275,740 people on FB who live in Trinidad and Tobago between the ages of 25 and 50 inclusive
• There are 36,000 people on FB who live in Trinidad and Tobago between the ages of 50 and 64 inclusive.

These are interesting statistics because now it can be concluded that Facebook has a reach, in the 18 year olds and above, of 529,780 Trinbagoians.

That is more than the Express (45K), Guardian (40K) and Newsday (40K) a total circulation of 125,000 daily. Facebook reaches five times as many Trinbagoians.

What does all this mean to businesses, NGOs, CBOs, political parties and the government in Trinidad and Tobago? It means that all these entities cannot ignore this social network. It means that they must find a way to leverage it to accomplish their missions. Facebook is not fading away.

Some of the early adopters will be the first to maximize the Facebook potential but many will continue to see it as just another social network. It is a social medium but it's also a communication medium with the pre-requisite infrastructure to support any type of communication that initiate business transactions.

Users have the ability to use email, instant chatting and sharing information all within the network. It's the ideal medium to maintain constant contact with any group, company, organization in any local Caribbean market.

Given the number of your potential clients are on Facebook, do you think you should at least seriously consider putting up a Facebook business page?

Tony Puckerin is an Internet Marketing Consultant based in Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Puckerin is committed to the belief that Facebook and all other social net works are only one marketing collateral that create a company's web presence. His focus is on using the Internet to attract more customers to local businesses. He manages a site for local businesses in Trinidad and Tobago businesses. He also administers a social network blog for local Trinidad and Tobago businesses and regional blog Caribbean Blogger. He is also active on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter and is always open to adding local Trinidad and Tobago business owners as friends and followers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_Puckerin