Use these tips to maximize your time and get the most out of your online efforts.

By Ivan Misner

People have a tendency to get online at random times and start clicking away. Then something mysterious happens to the space-time continuum, and all of a sudden two hours goes and they have nothing to show for it. But it’s fairly easy to avoid falling victim to that trap–have a plan and stick to it!

The key to success with social media is to outline a strategy which considers the amount of time you can realistically dedicate each day to your online marketing efforts. If you plan your activities, use time-saving tools and make sure your ROI expectations are reasonable you’ll be in a good position to succeed at social networking.

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By CarolAnn Bailey-Lloyd. Follow her @CarolAnnB.

If you’re new to online business and are trying to surf through the sometimes murky waves of the Internet, then the first thing you need to do is take a deep breath and relax. Nothing can get you more worked up than your own nerves doing a hoodoo number on your mind.  I’m going to offer you a few tricks of the trade I’ve learned along the way and hope that you’ll benefit in some small way.

1. Market Research and Analysis: This is where successful marketing plans spring to action. Justifiably, clients (or buyers) must want to achieve specific goals, so usability and receptiveness are crucial components that ultimately become the deciding factor for potential purchases. Analyze your products and/or services. Obviously, you must have a great product or service to offer your potential buyer.

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself:

• Consumer Demand: What is it about my product (or service) that makes it essential to consumers? What sets my product (or service) aside from other competitors or like products?
• Communication/Presentation: Do I inform my potential consumers with detailed accuracy? Is my product (or service) being presented in its best light? Can I improve its viewer-ability?
• Amenities: Do I offer any special tools or tips (e.g., videos, workshops, eBooks, etc.) that enhance my products and/or services?
• Accessibility: Is my product (or service) easily accessible and within reach?
• Branding: Do I have a memorable slogan/brand? (e.g., Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?”)
• Quality/Affordability: Is my product (or service) affordable, and does it offer quality? Are financing or other loan options available?

2. Strategic Planning and Implementation: Examine your current marketing and advertising campaign to determine the best way to meet and exceed consumer expectations and demand. Try to discern which tactics are working and which ones aren’t. That doesn’t mean you have to entirely abandon the processes that you are utilizing, but it does mean that you might need to take a second approach as to how you go about your day-to-day web operations. After you’ve explored trends, applications, and web 2.0 marketing strategies, it’s time to jot down a plan of action to create real sustainable wealth in your professional business. Remember too, that two heads are always better than one; so get a professional (or personal) opinion from a friend or colleague to get her reaction on your commercial appeal.

3. Website Development and Promotion: The most critical aspects of marketing your product or service online are to know the foundation of Internet marketing and how to successfully harness the power of the World Wide Web at the stroke of your fingertips. How? Since the conception and birth of the Internet, advertising has taken on dramatically new angles, and is steadily climbing to popular ranks among the masses.

While large audiences still prescribe to network and cable television programs, the Web audience is growing by leaps and bounds. Aside from being a vital instrument for student and professional research projects, the Internet has become an ever-expanding media outlet for entertainment, information, work and direct-advertising. By integrating all points of a strategic marketing campaign, virtual web advertising agencies are able to assist clients with interactive ad campaigns that help promote exposure to clients (services and/or products).

In addition to frugal facilitation of free online marketing tools like PR-Inside.com, Free-Press-Release.com, and various online article distribution sites, Web 2.0 technologies are reinventing the way online businesses and professionals perform and succeed in today’s tough economic environment.

* Emerging web 2.0 technologies (e.g.: Twitter, FaceBook MySpace, LinkedIn, VOX, Me2everyone; Google Reader, FriendFeed, Mixx, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Blip.fm, YouTube, HolisticTwitter, InSocialMedia, Wordpress, eBlogger, etc.) are excellent networking tools to help brand you and your services (or products).  *Psst…Twitter is my personal favorite social networking site, but I’m not telling anyone!

Don’t forget to utilize Meta tags and basic hotmail coding including anchor text links and linked graphics to enhance your web presence and visibility. This means using keyword/keyword phrase-rich, original content as copy and as distributable articles to assorted article-hosts.

To your success!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.

By CarolAnn Bailey-Lloyd. Follow her @CarolAnnB.

Now that you’ve joined the twitter bandwagon, you’re trying to figure out the best way to attract quality followers to your twittosphere. I don’t know too many folks who want a wave of spam bots following them, but sometimes that’s what we might end up with if we’re not careful with our twitter approach. What’s a twitter newbie to do when she’s new to the twitter-scene? Use the following twitter tips to create a presence that’s both clear and notable:

1. Did you create your twittosphere for a professional agenda? Identifying your niche market is the first key to attracting the audience you want on twitter. It’s also the most excellent way to develop enticing tweets to engage twitter users. If you’re on twitter for pure professional grounds, then you must offer tweets that invite potential clients. Remember, consumers (whether in virtual time or real time) want value for their purchasing dollar. As a professional twitter-tweeter, you must provide quality and relative information regarding your product (or service). And just like any bricks-and-mortar business, friendly small talk is in order. Tell twitter users about yourself — how you got started in your business, why you got started in your business, why you feel strongly about your business, who facilitates your business, and what makes your business a step ahead of the grain. Add a splay of links to your Website…but tread carefully; too much of a good thing isn’t always the best method to earn patronage. Offer links to associated information as well. There’s a right way and there’s a wrong way to achieve professional success on twitter. If every tweet contains a link, you’re probably talking at your twitter base - that’s the wrong way. If your tweets offer engaging dialogue, a random splay of links, and an answer/question-type format, you’re communicating with your twitter base - that’s the right way.

2. I joined twitter to establish friendships. If you joined twitter simply for personal reasons, then you’ve got just about free reign on how you approach your twittosphere. Common sense, however, plays a major role in how you develop and expand your personal twitter network, too. Don’t be the twitter playground bully and expect people to like you. If you come onto the twitter playing field to simply dump your negative energy, then you won’t attract quality friendships. Instead, you get what you receive: misery loves company.

Monkey-see, monkey-do… Our twitter followers often mimic our personalities (and visa vie) to some degree. For example, if you share music through Blip.fm or other twitter-aligned musical sites, you’ll find that your followers are more than likely music connoisseurs. If you like baking pies and pastries, your followers can probably offer you the latest recipe for homemade apple pie. And that is what it’s really all about; twitter — that is. Twitter is the social networking scene that allows ordinary…and sometimes extraordinary folks to strike common grounds in a mutual network of millions. Where else in the world can you go and have the opportunity to touch the mind, heart, and spirit of multi-generational cultures, creeds, and races?

3. Love…American style: I want to find true love on twitter. While twitter is a great social networking portal, I can’t say whether or not true love has blossomed on this media giant. Just like any social scene, individuals must exercise caution when attempting to develop any relationship - personal or otherwise. Unless you can confirm a potential significant other’s intent beyond a shadow of a doubt - tread carefully.  In today’s fast-paced virtual society, we get easily side-tracked by the now-moment of time. This often translates into making ourselves readily vulnerable to online predators, which have less-than-desirable intentions. Don’t offer personal information (home phone number, address, etc.) unless you absolutely trust an individual. Just because it’s twitter, doesn’t make it safer.

4. Trying to expand your group’s reach? If you’re like other hobby-loving creatures of habit, then twitter is perfect for you and the expansion of what it is you like to do. It’s also an excellent venue to expand outreach for independent causes like cancer, the Humane Society, and Eco-friendly organizations, among others. If your intention is to acquire more members and/or support of your cause, twitter gives you the perfect platform to get in contact with interested individuals. On twitter, you can post your concerns, your needs, and your goals. Learn who is researching resolutions, how you can become part of the solution, and where you can go to learn more. That works, too, if you’re offering information and resources about your group. But again, remember to keep your conversations light and friendly. Too much chatter and not enough dimensions to your communication can be a real buzz-kill.

5. I want to explore my philosophical side on twitter. Now that’s a topic I can personally get into. On twitter, there’s an explosion of diversity. From orthodox religious individuals to those seeking Zen enlightenment — spirituality and philosophy is alive and well here. Twitter is home to psychologists, spiritual mentors, personal and professional coaches, psychics, astrophysicists, astrologists, astronomers, actors, musicians, clerics, engineers, and more. The best part about the twitter climate is that every one has something to offer to the virtual hemisphere of knowledge. Teaching and learning is an everyday occurrence on twitter because it’s almost guaranteed that you will learn something new each time you login. And if you’re a real people-person, you’ll be able to share your ideas, philosophies, theories (and maybe conspiracies)…and in return, you’ll gain a wealth of retrospection, investigation, and potential answers.

Most importantly, keep it real on twitter. Don’t go beyond your area of expertise. Don’t lead individuals on with superficial tweets. Don’t give advice when no one has asked for it. Don’t be rude. And yes, learn how to “listen” on twitter before you respond; part of being a good communicator, means knowing what to tweet and when to tweet it.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.

March 20, 2009 at 11:46 am by Janet Tanguay

Call me a twit, but at a recent staff meeting, I mentioned I had signed up for Tweeter, and what I really meant to say was that I had signed up with Twitter. If you have no understanding about what I just wrote, read on, because, for entrepreneurs, the social networking scene is rapidly becoming the best place for personal branding, web marketing and business promotion. It is one key to success for your small business.

Sure, there are people who will argue that nothing is going on in these sites, that it is like showing up for a networking event and finding no music, food, or drinks. Sure, some people make updates about brushing their teeth and sneezing, but how can you argue that point when fifty billion dollars is currently being spent in on-line advertising? China alone spent one billion in on-line ads last year. Professional marketers are cashing in on these daily connections by taking the art of building relationships and networking from offline to online.

Here’s how social media marketing or attraction marketing works. You post something about yourself on your profile page. That message goes out to all of your friends and then to all of their friends. This helps you develop an on-line presence and is a powerful tool to add to your direct sales plan, get your message out to your target audience and find new business leads. It is always better to do business with a personal referral than to cold call a prospect.

Personally, I’ve been able to link in with many new artists and coaches on social networking sites, and those are the key contacts in my business. In fact, someone from the high school I went to linked in with me on FaceBook recently. It turns out he and his wife now live 6 months out of the year on an exotic island. We are now discussing the possibilities of my doing an island getaway retreat for some of my creative clients. I have discovered people I know now living in Australia, China, India, and New Zealand, and that helps me make global connections.

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By Rochelle Paul

We see it all over the internet, newspapers and TV: Facebook.  But what’s it about?  Isn’t it just a bunch of twenty-somethings talking about the party they hit last weekend?  Isn’t that where we tune in to see the face of some criminal in those days before they committed their crime?

Rori, you cannot be seriously telling me that as a small business owner I’m going to use Facebook as a marketing tool!

Yes, I am.

If you read my two part article, Is Facebook really a small business tool: part one and two, you know I really had my questions and doubts.  (I will address my reservations about social media in an upcoming article).

Yet, in the time since those articles first appeared, I’ve found that social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, really are at the forefront of marketing across the business board.

Not only are the twenty-somethings talking about their weekends, they’re also talking about the products and services that they use.

But, so are the folks in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.

And if you check out the article, Grandpa is… browsing your Facebook page by Beth DeFalco, you know that even the folks beyond their 50’s are tuning into what people are saying on Facebook.

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When it comes to creating relationships with other companies, take a long-term approach.
By Ivan Misner

I was recently speaking to a friend of mine who’s a partner in an international consulting and training company when we discovered we had a mutual acquaintance–a bestselling author and fairly well-known speaker.

In our discussion, we found out he’d contacted each of us individually to see if there were any possibilities for some type of strategic alliance with his company and each of our own, individually. We were both open to the possibility but couldn’t see an immediate and dramatic way our companies could link with his and undertake any specific projects at that time. We were both a bit amused to then discover that we were summarily “dropped” from his radar after that.

We sensed he was looking for that one big alliance that would help his company soar to the next level. Ironically, we’d had the same type of phone call with each other just 18 months earlier. We had come basically to the same conclusion: There was nothing on a grand scale that we could do together at that moment. The difference, however, was the rest of the story.

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by Seomul Evans

Facebook isn’t exactly the be-all, end-all for small business internet marketing, but it sure doesn’t hurt to start using it. Why? Because social networking sites like mySpace and Facebook are the models for the internet marketing of the future. Once consumers get used to using social networking sites, they will be prepared for personalized business networking. Imagine that you are handling internet marketing for a small business. You’re not, of course, going to take over the world by creating communities on existing social networking sites, but what if you could build your own social business network targeting your own community or niche? By that time most people will be old pros at building profiles, finding communities of common interest, and sharing pertinent videos and articles. So get started now so you’re not left behind. Here are 11 ways to do that:

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by Seomul Evans

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the prospect of beginning a social marketing campaign. After all, the best of the best internet marketers appear to have achieved their status overnight with little to no effort. But the truth is that it does take time and effort, time and effort that will pay off in the end with

• Increased link popularly from social media sites
• More natural links from sites who are genuinely interested in your product or service
• Higher search engine rankings on keywords
• Increased blog activity, including visitors and commenters
• Increase in unique visitors each month
• More subscribers and more sales.

So how do you go about starting your social marketing campaign without becoming completely overwhelmed? Do something each day that will get you one more link or at least lead to one more quality conversation with someone in your niche. After awhile you will find that you’re established yourself on major sites. You will also have created a master schedule for yourself that allows you to run your business while also keeping up with everything you need to do to maintain your social marketing campaign. Here are ten steps to get you started:

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More and more twitter users are actually taking their Twitter interactions and meeting up in real life. In this post Steph Auteri from Freelancedom (@stephauteri) shares some tips on how to do it.

I find new excuses to create Excel worksheets. I lament the lost art of the cover letter and other forms of traditional business correspondence. I read books such as Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer and Allison Hemming’s Work It!, which preach against lazy, Internet-based business practices.

Yet I have been thoroughly charmed by the Twitter phenomenon, and am an out-and-out evangelist in support of using it as a means to further your career.

I didn’t know quite what to do with Twitter until I read a post on Problogger that advised setting Twitter goals. My mind immediately grasped upon the possibilities for promoting my multiple blogs and, since then, I have (I hope) maintained that focus. (Just ignore those tweets that mention Xanax, wine, and my three cats…) It was a happy surprise when it became clear just how much Twitter could help my career in other ways.

Read on for tips on how to use Twitter to take networking from online to in-the-flesh.

1. Use Your Twitter Profile As You Would a Business Card:

Those cards I had done up at VistaPrint are so perfect. They include my name, title, phone number, e-mail address, and website URL and, best of all, they even match my site’s background! I love how they represent the brand I’ve created for myself. Your Twitter profile should operate in a similar manner. Pimp that URL of yours in the appropriate space. Craft a well-written professional description in the spot meant for your bio. Personalize the background also! It will help you stand out from the pack. And then include a link to your Twitter account on every last social networking site you belong to, and in your e-mail signature as well. (Bonus tip: If you want to go all out — and frighten friends and family! — order a T-shirt with your Twitter ID.)

2. Let Your Twitter Feed Be Your (Ongoing) Portfolio:

While I maintain a portfolio on my professional site, I often suspect that no one actually goes there. Even when I include a link in my cover letters. This makes me sad. But nothing beats the immediacy of a tweeted link! I tend to tweet the links to my latest clips, and also point my followers toward the blog posts I’m most proud of. This way, people don’t become overwhelmed by how amazingly prolific I am, or mistake me for a spammer. If this is not a worry, there are Twitter applications — such as twitterfeed — that automatically feed your post titles and links straight to Twitter. Not only will you get a nice bump in traffic from your own tweeple, but followers might find your work so gosh-darn awesome that they retweet it, placing it in front of a constantly growing number of eyes. Who knows what could happen then! I’ve actually received additional writing assignments from those impressed with my already-existing work.

3. Grow Your Twitter Network:

If you’re doing everything right — posting helpful and interesting tweets, maintaining a healthy level of back-and-forth, and seeking out other Twitter users worth following — your network will grow organically. Once you have them there, it’s time to harness their remarkable power…

4. Get the Lowdown:

…by getting the lowdown on things like professional organizations, conferences, and other events. In musing — via tweet — about the pros and cons of joining the EFA, the NWU, or Freelance Success, I received immediate feedback of others’ personal experiences with each. Being able to determine the effectiveness of real-work events and networking groups before paying an arm and a leg, based upon the firsthand experiences of others, can be invaluable.

5. Tweet Yourself Up:

…by advertising your wares. I tweet about the blog posts I’m working on. I tweet about the manuscripts I’m copy editing. I tweet about the articles I’m researching. It makes me sound way productive. Plus, it gives others an idea of where my skills and talents lie. If you happen to tweet a lot about your amazing grasp of the behavioral sciences, or of medical writing, you’ll be the first person people think of when they need a medical copywriter. Or a shrink.

6. Ask for Help:

…by sending out an SOS. It’s been known to happen. People have acquired employment by simply letting others know they were looking for work. But you can start smaller. Ask for input on that blog post you’re working on. Search for interview subjects for that next article (I use Twellow or Twitter Search). Ask all of the tens of thousands of web developers out there why that plugin didn’t work when you did the whatchamacallit to the thingamabobber. There is a world of wisdom out there, just waiting for your call.

7. And Help Others:

Is there a way to measure Twitter karma? Or is it wrong to quantify the ways in which you help others? Either way, I believe karma exists, and the more you help others, the more others are willing to help you. This can mean simply answering others’ queries, making suggestions, or offering your help when a fellow Twitter user appears in distress. Some twitterers go a step further, and create accounts meant solely for charitable purposes. Twestival — which “brings together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity” — is just one example (more information can be found here). Another one I’ve recently come across is JobAngels. They define themselves as a movement, in which they ask followers to help one person find a job. Several of the people I’m following have already retweeted their request.

8. Plan a Tweetup:

All of the above has referenced the real world only indirectly, by mentioning actions you can do in the Twitterverse in order to affect your non-virtual life. For my last point, I’d like to mention Tweetups, the happy and inevitable cousin of the Meetup. Rather than waiting for an event to happen, why not plan your own meeting of the (Twitter-based) minds? You can follow tweetup to learn about happenings in your area, or just send a shout-out to your own followers, asking if anyone would be game for taking things offline. While online networking can be amazing in its influence, I often find that nothing beats a face-to-face meeting. Placing a face to a name…being able to talk at length with more than 140 characters…bonding over a glass (or five) of wine or the healing powers of a cup of coffee…all of these things can help you to develop a more concrete connection with someone you’ve only been conversing with online. In marveling over the powers of the Internet, don’t discredit the traditional tactics.

…

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.