SparkleTags

Deltina Hay asked:


nal and social networking sites like LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, and Squidoo are effective outlets for finding new readers, but it is easy to find your message spread thin if you don’t choose the right strategy. Many businesses settle for sparse profiles on various sites, never discovering the other powerful marketing tools many of these social networking platforms have to offermost of them for free.

To avoid the scattershot approach, choose one or two social networking sites that fit your business well and invest the time to maximize your presence in them. Let’s explore what that might look like if Facebook is one of your choices.

Prepare your best information before you start.

Avoid the “I will go back and fill that in later” trap. Have all your necessary information on hand, ready to copy and paste on the spot. Complete a worksheet containing:

1. Key Terms:

Make a list of your best key terms and weave them into the rest of your worksheet items. Key terms are one, two, or three word terms that someone might use if they were searching for your business in a search engine.

2. General Information:

Your Name

Business Name

Email Addresses

URLs

Instant Messaging screen names

3. Biographical and Descriptive Information:

Short bio (50 words)

Longer bio (100 words)

Short company description (50 words)

Longer company description (100 words)

Business mission statement

4. List of Products

I based these worksheet items on a typical Facebook profile and page. If you choose a different social networking site, examine some completed profiles and base your worksheet items on them.

Create an account and thoroughly complete your profile

If you haven’t already, get a Facebook account. Completely fill out your profile using your worksheet. Under the relationships tab, choose “networking.” You can skip the personal and education tabs for business profiles, but there is no harm in filling them out. If you have an existing account, upgrade your profile information using your key terms.

But don’t stop there!

Facebook, like most good social networking platforms, offers many marketing opportunities for businessessome for free. You can find these by clicking the “Advertising” link in the footer of the Facebook site, or by following this link: http://www.facebook.com/business/.

Since I can’t cover all of the marketing tools in one article, let’s focus on my favorite: The Facebook Page. It’s my favorite not only because it is free, but because it makes use of the many diverse Facebook applications.

Facebook pages are specifically for marketing a business or a product. They offer a way for a business to represent itself to the Facebook community in an authentic way. Facebook users can search pages the same way they search for people within the network community.

Create your page by going to “Page Manager” in the left sidebar of your Facebook profile, or by following this link: http://www.facebook.com/business/ and choosing Facebook Pages. Choose the best category for your business.

Use key terms in the name of your Facebook page!

It seems that the actual page name is the only text on a Facebook page that is used in a search. With that in mind, use at least two of your best key terms in your page name.

Populate your page with all of your best worksheet information. You may have only a few seconds to catch a reader’s attention, so put your best key terms forward.

Once your page is in place, add applications to help represent your company in your own unique way. To find applications for your page, click on “Applications” in the upper left corner of your page, or search for them here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/.

Applications are not difficult to install and are usually very easy to set up. Use this general rule of thumb when choosing an application: If you can’t figure out how to set it up after the second try, find another one. There is often more than one application available to accomplish the same task.

Applications Top Picks:

My Flickr (http://apps.facebook.com/myflickr/): Display photos from your Flickr account using this application. These photos can include logos, product photos, photos from events, etc.

Upcoming (http://apps.facebook.com/upcoming/): Add all of your events to upcoming.org, and you can easily display them on your Facebook page with Upcoming’s Facebook application.

YouTube Box (http://apps.facebook.com/videobox/): Allows visitors to play your YouTube videos right on your Facebook page.

Simply RSS (http://apps.facebook.com/simplyrss/): This allows you to display up to eight RSS feeds on your Facebook page and display the feeds from your business’s main site and newsrooms.

Implementing these applications creates an interactive page that also gives visitors a personable look into your business. To see all of these applications in use on one page, visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dalton-Publishing/9792568507.

Note: If you use a particular application regularly, consider donating to the application’s creatorthey do not get paid to develop these applications.

Promoting your social networking presence

Now that you have invested the time in creating an impressive presence on Facebook (or whichever social networks you chose), go the extra mile and research how you can promote your new presence both inside and outside of the network. Here is a link to Facebook’s promotional guidelines: http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/promo_guidelines.php.

Of course, invite everyone on your mailing lists to join your network and visit your sharp new page!

Don’t turn your back on your investment

Remember: The social Web is a fickle place! You need to keep your content dynamic and interesting in order to encourage people to return to your page, or to recommend it to their friends. Do this, and you will see better results than those who just move on to building their next profile. Once you have a good, healthy presence in one community, use your experience to move on to your next successful presence.



Content for WordPress

Shant asked:


Anyone who uses MySpace will know that there are plenty of ways to pimp the profile. The profile is what this networking site is all about. Millions of users will be accessing their profiles, and also looking for good ones to make new friends. Thus all users must make sure that they have a good profile, and there are several ways to go about this.

There are MySpace layouts, which can be used to talk about oneself on the profile. This is one of the most exciting features of the site, as you will not find this anywhere else. Variety is the priority with the layouts, and this is what you will find when you are looking out for them. This is the best way to talk about you, as instantly people will recognize your interests and likings.

Let us say that you are celebrating a festival, and that you would like to tell everyone about it. By choosing a specific layout that will talk about the festival, all visitors to the site will know that you are celebrating it. The way of expressing yourself will not stop with festivals. There will be various other options to choose from. MySpace layouts offer almost all images to talk about you.

Images, designs and graphics will vary from site to site when you are looking for MySpace layouts to express yourself. But you need not worry, as you are bound to find something, which will suit your taste. Your interests could be just about anything, and you will find a layout, which will match that. That is the best feature about the MySpace layouts.

Expressing oneself would be talking about the purpose of your presence on the site. You could be part of some fan club such as that of a rock group. And you could use their picture displayed on the layout, to customize your profile. Since the layout covers the entire screen of the computer, it will look interesting to viewers.

Not only will it look interesting, it will show what you like. People will immediately know that you are a fan of this particular rock group. They will also join in if they have the same interests. However choosing the right layouts will also play a good role in the profile. You will need to choose the right images as well as the right colors.

This will go a long way in making the profile very pleasing to the eye. Members on MySpace will know that there are plenty of interests to showcase. This could be the best way to gather many friends as well. Interests could be from cartoons to sorcery, and you will find what you need on some site. This way, you need not go into too many details about yourself on the profile.



Create a video blog

Zinn Jeremiah asked:


In its initial stages, MySpace was a virtual gathering spot for teenagers mostly, and not much more than that. There are still lots of teenagers on MySpace and there’s still a lot of socializing going on, but MySpace has evolved. These days, companies and individual marketers both have a significant presence on MySpace. MySpace, in a very real way, has become a tool.

There are different reasons for having a MySpace page, but most of the reasons beyond socializing come down to a common motivation: money. It’s not much surprise that money is a motivation. The most common motivation of all is probably money. The surprise may be that it’s actually possible to make money on MySpace. It is possible to make money on MySpace, and it can happen in one of two ways.

People can, and do, sell things on MySpace. Some people sell things directly, some people sell things by placing an affiliate link to follow on their profile page. Selling something directly on MySpace likely won’t get someone very far. MySpace is still considered by most users to be a social site, not a commerce site, and the appearance of actively selling may have some negative residual effects. As is the case with anything, however, if something is unique and meets a desire, people will want to have it.

The second method for making money on MySpace, the most common and the preferred method, is to advertise. MySpace is completely ad driven: MySpace places advertisement on literally every one of its site pages. Individuals, or companies, with MySpace profiles can engage in the same type of strategy. A well-done MySpace profile can and is used as a calling card. All movies presumed to have a teen audience have a MySpace profile. These profiles are splashy, and colorful, and at least attempt to be fun, but their sole purpose is to advertise a product.

Many individual marketers, Internet marketers especially, have MySpace profiles. A marketer’s MySpace profile typically serves to establish the marketer as an online money making expert. Marketers likely turn to MySpace for networking possibilities, and also because MySpace is free to use. If nothing else, MySpace provides a free online presence. That reason solely is a reason for some people to create a MySpace profile.

MySpace additionally allows for the personalization of a profile’s url, to easily connect a profile to a person’s name, for example, or to a company name. One thing to bear in mind when thinking of establishing a MySpace presence is that all MySpace profiles have advertising on them, and that the user has no control whatsoever over a profile’s prepackaged advertising content.



Content

Zinn Jeremiah asked:


People in business who don’t have a presence on MySpace are missing out on an enormous marketing opportunity. There are hundreds of millions of people who regularly use the MySpace site. That equates to hundreds of millions of potential business contacts. MySpace is also absolutely free to use. In all frankness, applying a MySpace presence does require some time and effort if one is looking to get maximum value; but the time and effort required doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and can provide significant results besides.

The first way to establish a presence on MySpace is to sign up for a MySpace account. Getting a MySpace account is virtually an automatic process and doesn’t require any sort of payment: MySpace generates income by displaying advertising, not by charging users. Once a MySpace account has been established, a person is provided with what is known as a profile. This profile is pretty much what the name would imply: a profile of the MySpace user. Profiles can be presented in any number of ways, and can even be decorated according to individual tastes. When it comes to a MySpace profile, it’s best to give one’s profile a nice look and feel. This implies giving a level of effort to the MySpace experience.

Some people new to MySpace aren’t sure where to start when it comes to decorating their profiles. An obvious resource is to browse other MySpace profiles. There are some very creative profile designs to be seen, which can provide not only ideas but also inspiration. A MySpace profile should be a proper reflection of your presence, or your reason for being on MySpace in the first place. For instance, if you’re promoting an insurance business you probably don’t want a MySpace profile that’s especially wild and crazy. On the other hand, if your business is fun then your profile should be too. Something to ideally avoid is to leave one’s MySpace profile set at default. The MySpace default design isn’t very interesting, and also implies a lack of care for one’s MySpace presence.

After you’ve gotten your profile up and looking the way you want it, the next thing to do is make some friends. Putting a friend’s list together simply adding other people’s profiles to your MySpace page. Having a friend’s list is crucial however if one wants to develop any sort of network, whether it be for business or social reasons. Without a friend’s list, your MySpace profile will be nothing more than a drop in the ocean: no one will be aware of it. But once you start adding friends, people become aware of you and your profile starts to stand out. You’re assuredly experiencing MySpace then.



Create a video blog…instantly.

John A Tulley asked:


If you’re interested in marketing with MySpace, there are seven best ways to Excel at marketing with MySpace at this point in time. Through this article, you will be given an overview of what you need to understand when it comes to marketing with MySpace.

The first way to excel at marketing with MySpace is to develop a great MySpace page. You will want your MySpace page to be interesting and attractive so that customers will want to find out more about you and therefore what products your are trying to sell.

The second way to excel at marketing with MySpace is to make sure that their written material that you include on your MySpace page is interesting and informative. Writing a positive testimonial about a particular product or service is a marketing ploy that may result in extra sales.

The third way to succeed at marketing with MySpace is to make sure that you regularly update your MySpace page.

The fourth way to be effective at marketing with MySpace is to develop relationships with other people who participate at MySpace. In other words, you will want to become a part of the MySpace community and spread the word about the benefits of the products you are marketing.

The fifth step that you will want to take when it comes to marketing with MySpace is to pay attention to what other people are doing at MySpace. When it comes to marketing MySpace, there’s no reason for you to reinvent the wheel.

The sixth step that you will want to take when it comes to marketing with MySpace is to make sure that your efforts at MySpace are part of an overall marketing plan or program. When all is said and done, the key to business success in this day and age is developing and implementing a comprehensive marketing plan.

The final step that you want to take when marketing MySpace is to make sure people beyond the MySpace community know of your MySpace presence. One effective strategy that you can employ is to draw people who have not been to MySpace before to your MySpace page. There is something very important associated with increasing the number of people outside of the MySpace community who have at least minimal connection with your MySpace page.



Create a video blog