Another form Marketing is the use of a Fanpage in Facebook.

The reasons businesses should use a Fanpage in their marketing campaigns are explained in the following article.

If you have comments leave them below.

December 2009 data from comScore puts Facebook’s unique US visitor count at nearly 112 million. With a total estimated US Internet population of 205 million, that means that 54% of all Internet users are on Facebook. MySpace captured a still strong 57 million users in December — 27% of the Internet population.

Social Networking by the Numbers, a study I conducted using comScore and Experian Hitwise data from December 2009, details US data on visitor counts, time spent, and growth rates for the top 10 purely social networks (not vertical networks like LinkedIn and Flixster) over the past year.

Some surprises in the comScore data -

• Facebook users were more engaged than MySpace users, visiting Facebook an average of 27 times in December versus 14 for MySpace.
• Tagged, MyYearbook, and Orkut users were the most active, visiting those sites about every other day or more.
• MyYearbook and Tagged users spent 2 minutes longer on average on those sites than the average Facebook user.

Experian Hitwise offered trend data that demonstrates how big social networking has become:

• One in four (25%) US Internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up 83% from 13.8% in December 2008.
• Nearly one in 10 visits went to one of these sites in December 2009, versus 5.8% in December 2008.
• MySpace and Facebook virtually flipped positions over the course of a year — in December 2009, visits to Facebook accounted for 68% of visits to a custom category of 10 social networks, compared to MySpace’s 28%. In December 2008, Facebook had 29% of visits and MySpace had 64%.
• Facebook drove category growth, with its overall market share growing 286% from December 2008 to December 2009.
• The only other site to grow in market share in that period was Tagged, whose overall share grew by 35%.

When taken in sum, these data suggest that all of the attention directed toward Facebook in the past year is warranted. But the 57 million highly engaged users on MySpace are nothing to sneeze at, and the second-tier networks have millions of users. Expect them to begin to integrate with Facebook or MySpace over the course of the next year, just as vertically oriented sites have done (Flixster, a movie review social network is integrated with MySpace, and Goodreads, a site where users share book recommendations, is integrated with Facebook).

There’s no shame in doing what you do best, keeping your users happy, and allowing them to grow their network by sharing their activities on the largest social networking site in the world.

http://digital.venturebeat.com/2010/02/10/54-of-us-internet-users-on-facebook-27-on-myspace/

If this does not convince you that social media marketing is right for your business NOTHING will convince you to use it.

Please read this article listed in the New York Times and in the comment below state whether Pepsi-Cola is using their resources wisely!

If you happen to agree with their marketing approach you may want to incorporate Managed Internet Marketing into your Strategic Plan to gain Business Success! Email Mary`

Coca-Cola’s Super Bowl Ad Plans Include Social Media

Here’s an article by Ben Williams that I found at Ezine.com.
What I like about it is how simply he tells us how LinkedIn is another Social Media Site that we can use to market our businesses.
After you’ve read the article, let me know  how you will be using LinkedIn to promote your business!

If you have no clue how to use LinkedIn or Twitter or Facebook to market your business, Email Mary` and I will gladly help you.

So many businesses already know the power that they can harness by joining LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a bit like Facebook, but completely business-orientated. People use it to connect and build rapport with potential clients, as well as with other business owners, where they can share past experiences and advice. In this post, I will give you 5 tips to improve you success on LinkedIn. So, have a read!

• Add a personal touch – LinkedIn is full of businesses who just set up their profile and then expect new business to come rolling in. To a certain extent, you might get some new business, but in order to maximise your chance on LinkedIn, add a personal touch to your profile, and show other business owners and potential clients that you have actually put the effort in to create a friendly page.

• Interact – As with any other social networking site, be it Facebook, Twitter or anything else, the main point of it is to interact with potential clients. Maybe say on your profile that you are happy to help anyone who is having any problems, and then when messages come through asking for advice, give it to them; for free. This will help to build a relationship with that person. Just don’t give too much advice, or they wouldn’t need to do business with you!

• Profile Picture – Same as Facebook and Twitter; if you have a picture of yourself up, people will be a lot more inclined to interact with you. It always helps to have a face behind the brand.

• Connections – Connect with as many people as you can. I don’t mean randomly adding people, I mean searching keywords that your ideal customer may have included in their profile, and add them. Once they have accepted, be the first to message them thanking them for accepting you, and let them know what you do.

• Rapport – As with any sort of marketing, build rapport with your customer. You shouldn’t sell directly on LinkedIn, you should try and re-direct anyone who is interested to your website or blog. Make sure you build some rapport with these people first though, once they like you, they will pay more attention to the links you post.

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

Below is yet another article I found that explains why Businesses need to look for competent Internet Marketing Specialists to help them with their business goals!
Let me know what you think and contact me if you would like a free consultation Email Mary`
What do you think are the five biggest mistakes people make when it comes to marketing with social media? Read on and find out.

There are many ways in which you can fritter away your time and your money without getting the results you are hoping for. Sure, social media are usually free or very low cost, but time is money too, and you’re probably using resources that cost you money as well.

So here are five key ways in which people miss out on the potential benefits of Facebook, Twitter, and company.

1) Not leveraging social media properly

That’s probably the biggest mistakes. Many companies and business owners use social media, which means that they invest time, energy, and money. But they don’t know how to turn that investment into a profit. They don’t leverage the power they have the potential to unleash with their investment.

2) Lack of planning

Diving in and throwing lots of stuff at it to see what sticks doesn’t usually get result in other context either. And it sure won’t work in social media.

Social media are just too vast to make an impact in unless you have a plan and focus your energy. Two things are likely to happen from lack of planning: lack of results, and overspending of resources.

If you fail to plan, you can easily get sucked into endless activities on Twitter, Facebook, and so on, and you may or may not ever get anything out of it. Before you know it, you may have frittered away your resources without getting any benefit in return.

3) Lack of respect for their personality and etiquette rules

Social media also require that you approach them the right way. You need to respect them and their distinct personalities and etiquette rules.

What works on Twitter won’t necessarily work on Facebook, and what works on either or both of these definitely won’t work on LinkedIn.

Even bookmarking services have their personalities. Articles that are a big hit on stumbleupon can be just as big a flop at Digg — and vice versa.

You need to get to know the specific social media venue and work with it rather than just deploying one-size-fits-all promotional materials.

4) Too much promotion

Speaking of promotional materials… Too much promotion can quickly kill off your campaign in any of the social media venues.

Social media are about being social and about sharing information. So you need to provide value, interesting information, feedback, and just generally come across as a nice guy and a good citizen and member of the specific venue that you’re currently using.

If you fail to abide by the etiquette rules, written AND unwritten, you can quickly lose your follower and/or friends, and even get banned from the network. So it pays to focus on just a few and really get to know them.

5) Failing to track your results

So what ARE you getting from your efforts? Be sure to track where your new leads and customers (and sales) come from, if any, to the best of your ability.

Social media feel so casual that this is a step that many business owners miss. Don’t be one of them.

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

I know that it is not “Politically Correct” to post political opinions on a business site.

However the point is not the politics but that Social Media does help the marketing process.
Think about this.

If politician’s polls are affected by marketing on sites such as Facebook and Twitter,

Is it not possible that they can help market your business?

Post a comment below and let me know if your business could be helped by Social Media Marketing.

Read the article By Susan Davis and determine if Social Marketing as well as Managed Internet Marketing is right for your business.

From Washington Wire:

If YouTube video views were to decide today’s Senate election in Massachusetts, Republican state Sen. Scott Brown would win in a landslide against Democrat Martha Coakley.

A study conducted by the Emerging Media Research Council out today found that Brown had a more effective strategy of using social networking tools including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to promote his campaign and connect with supporters.

Here’s a look at the numbers:

Facebook Posts since Jan. 1: Brown (128), Coakley (58)

Facebook Fans: Brown (70,800), Coakley (13,529)

Tweets since Jan. 1: Brown (142), Coakley (144)

Twitter Followers: Brown (9,679), Coakley (3,385)

YouTube Videos: Brown (57), Coakley (52)

YouTube Video Views: Brown (578,271), Coakley (51,173)

The study concludes that Brown’s use of social media helped in several ways, including boosting his name recognition both in and out of Massachusetts. They note that just 51% of Massachusetts voters had heard of Brown in a Nov. 12 poll, by Jan. 14 his name recognition was at 95%.

The study also found that Brown more openly embraced social media sites on his campaign Web site, where he “prominently” features social networking channels including a Twitter feed while Coakley “gives social networks less prominent real estate.”

In recent elections, Democrats—including President Barack Obama–have gotten the bulk of the credit for using social media networks to boost their campaigns. However, other recent studies suggest that the tech divide between the two parties is narrowing.

A report released last week on lawmaker’s use of Twitter found that Republican lawmakers are taking advantage of the Twitterverse significantly more than their Democratic counterparts. In the House, GOP lawmakers send out 529% more tweets than Democrats.

If you think that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are the ONLY social media groups that businesses can use. Think again!

Joincube is a recently launched Social Media site that shows how lucrative this market is

As a business owner, it can be extremely confusing as to which group to join.

As a Managed Internet Marketing Consultant I can help you create the best Social Media Package for your business.

Read the article below and be informed.  Then Email Mary`

New startup Joincube joins social software fray — targets small businesses

January 13, 2010 | Alan Colmenares

Social software — software that gives companies and individuals ways to interact and share information — has quickly been winning the interest of companies looking to track progress and share knowledge better among their employees. A number of software offerings already cater to large enterprise customers. But Joincube, a new startup from Argentina, is now targeting smaller companies.

Since its October launch, the company has signed 100 such customers mainly in the US and Europe.

It’s easy to be (justifiably) skeptical of yet another player entering an increasingly crowded space. A few days ago, social software company Jive Software announced that it increased revenues by 85% in 2009 (reportedly to $30M) and added marquee customers such as SAP, Qualcomm and Kaiser Permanente. And another player in the space, Socialtext, recently announced a record quarter.

READ MORE

Do you choose to be known as a cheap (company)?”

I want you to check out yet another article that I have found through my friend Maria Gudelis.

It is an article regarding the pricing and selling of Web Design Services, yet it applies to ALL Business Modules

Check it out by clicking here: Pricing and Selling Web Design

I must admit I have been at fault of settling for less when the value of the service was more than what I charged.

I would like to think that my services over deliver to any customer that comes in the door.

I quote:

“In a service industry, word of mouth is your most important marketing channel. You get to choose your reputation and brand through everything you do in business.“

As you work towards your business success, you will need to not only invest wisely, but value your business strategically!

I can help you do BOTH easily and with confidence.  Email Mary`

It’s amazing how small our world is. We are inundated with Social Brands that define what we do; how we react; and how we buy. We create these trends merely by using these brands!

Check out this article by Mike Melanson and I bet you’ll see your business is touched by these brands one way or another every day!

You may want to ask :

If your business is NOT touched by one of these brands, WHY isn’t it??

Top 50 Social Brands of 2009. Spoiler: You Know All of Them

Written by Mike Melanson /on  January 4, 2010 2:52 PM from ReadWriteWeb

“2009 was the year of Social Media” according to Buzz Study, the blog that keeps tabs on Infegy’s Social Radar. They’re not speaking from experience, they’re speaking from what they’ve seen in the billions of “blog posts, news feeds, forums, social networks and Twitter posts” the service has collected over the past two years.

2009 in Review, News, Twitter

and tagged with

facebook, google, infegy, social radar, twitter

Check out this article  from The Huffington Post Jan 4th, 2010

Maps of online communities, the proliferation of web trends, and popularity of social networks are among these terrific infographics depicting the social media landscape, which will help you visualize who’s out there, what they’re saying, and where they’re sharing it.

Twitter, Traffic, Trends And More: The 9 Coolest Social Media Maps On The Web (PICTURES)

digg Huffpost – Twitter, Traffic, Trends And More: The 9 Coolest Social Media Maps On The Web (PICTURES) stumble reddit del.ico.us

Check this article out from Smallbusinessnewz.

Email Marketing Will Be a Popular Strategy in 2010

Many Will Increase Email Marketing Budgets

Silverpop recently shared the results of a survey about email marketing, and found that not only will social media play a bigger role, but email marketing budgets will increase in 2010.

According to the firm’s findings, about half (40%) of email marketers intend to increase their budgets for email marketing next year. 47% said their budgets would stay the same.

In 2010, 52% of email marketers said increasing customer loyalty is a top goal for email marketing, and 51% said they want to drive incremental revenue. 65% of those with larger budgets for email marketing said that’s their top goal.

“When consumers’ purse strings tighten, savvy marketers remain respectful but attentive, so their brands are top of mind when their customers are once again ready to buy,” said Bill Nussey, CEO of Silverpop.

“Today’s marketers are mindful of the important role relationship building plays in a successful marketing strategy, and they understand the unique ability of email to engage customers.”

“Linking email to popular social networks can be a very successful strategy,” Nussey said. “If the messages are timely and relevant, recipients will share them with their networks, and the opportunity for additional exposure increases exponentially. And as customers become more mobile, their marketing must reach them in more timely ways and through channels such as SMS.”

There are still challenges to overcome in email marketing, and Silverpop’s respondents appear to have acknowledged that fact. 84% plan to include social media in their email efforts in 2010, and 38% will add SMS. Those who are increasing their budgets are more likely to add these things. 89% will use social media and 44 will use SMS.