Benefits of Social Media Marketing

There is a good article posted at GeekZu.com called “Benefits of Social Media Marketing”
Here are the benefits it outlines:
- Social Media Marketing is a Cheaper Advertising Alternative
- Social Media Marketing Improves Competition
- Social Media Marketing Helps Create a Reputable Brand
- Creating an Online Customer Service Presence

You can click here to read the full article.

The Advantages of Social Media Profiles for Your Business

One of the most powerful ways to boost your Internet marketing efforts is to create and market social media profiles on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The creation and marketing of social media profiles on popular social networking sites allows companies to engage with their clients within an online community. Through social media, companies can connect with customers and create long-lasting relationships. Social media can also be used to:

Create and preserve your brand name: Before you can get better brand awareness online, you need to build your band. Creating profiles on social networking sites can help your business to build your brand name and lock it down. With a solid brand name online, you’re less likely to lose it to similar companies with the same name or sneaky cybersquatters.

Boost link building efforts: While social media campaigns can help boost visibility of your site and gain traffic, they can also help boost links. With the creation of company profiles and links on social media sites, businesses can partake in natural linking efforts that are awarded by the search engines.

Get better rankings in Google Local/Maps: Major search engines, including Google, look for the number of times your business is mentioned on trusted sites on the web. Creating a social media profile on popular sites supports SEO strategies and boosts rankings.

Manage your online reputation: Social networking profiles will allow you to better monitor your online reputation. Many of these profiles will end up ranking high in the search engines, therefore pushing down any unwanted reviews from other websites.

In addition to the benefits mentioned above, social media campaigns have the power to keep your customers loyal. iClimber offers social media profile creation and marketing services customizable to the needs of your business.

Twitter Marketing And Promotion Tips

Twitter is the place where millions go for news and all types of other information. If you’re a Twitter newbie, the first thing you should know is that the length of individual Twitter posts cannot exceed 140 characters. Clearly there’s a reason for calling Twitter posting “micro-blogging.” The 140-character limit is set by default and is part of the site’s appeal — concision is encouraged and everyone gets information in mini-bits. Another thing the platform is good for? Twitter marketing. It provides a surprisingly level playing field for established businesses and those that are just starting out. Twitter has quickly become one of the most reliable places to get a business following.
Make the most of this free space to promote your business? If you’re unsure about how to get started, iClimber can help you out. Your Twitter account can be maintained with timely and pertinent posts so neither you, your brand, nor your business are left out of important public conversations.
Quick Recommendations for Twitter:

• Have individual profiles for management leaders and a single one for the company
• Be active and post relevant content to increase followers
• Follow individuals/companies in your industry and those posting similar content — these are the folks most likely to follow you back; a 20 percent to 40 percent follow-back can be expected
• Do not follow too many people at once: no more than 50-100 follows/day is best
• Avoid repetitive messages, especially those promoting your website
• Know that after the number of people following you reaches 2,000, if your “followers” are not within 10 percent of your “following,” you’ll be unable to add more friends — this threshold is in place to control spam — so sometimes it will be necessary to wait for more followers or to unfollow those that aren’t following you back
• Include your Twitter address on your website, email footers, business cards, and company brochures
• Check your account’s messages at least every few days and respond to them

If you request to have us manage your tweets (Twitter posts), your account will have anywhere from 40 to 150 posts per month, according to the service selection you make. These Twitter postings will typically consist of links to optimistic news stories relevant to your industry or links to your own blog entries and press releases. If you have a blog or website, you can also hire iClimber for article writing and content writing services. Besides tweeting about your articles and content, iClimber will also redirect to your staff any customer support questions made on Twitter.

The takeaway is that an active Twitter account is a known way to generate followers of your brand. If you would like to also create posts yourself, iClimber can provide a 30-minute training session over the phone to place you on the optimized track. Let us assist you in the sharpening of your marketing tools and chops.

Social Media Intelligence Offers Employers A Way to Side-Step Discrimination Suits

Social Intelligence has only been in business for one year but already it’s set to make a big impact on the ways that employers screen prospective hires through the use of social media. Googling a job applicant can upend an employer’s best intentions to perform a thorough and fair job screening because online searches can easily reveal details that are legally prohibited from being asked during an interview — facts about an applicant’s religion, sexual orientation, race, age, gender, or disability. Conducting online research that discloses sensitive information can leave employers vulnerable to discrimination suits.

On the other hand, not conducting an online search leaves undesirable and, quite importantly, legally knowable characteristics about an applicant undiscovered until it’s too late. In its website, Social Intelligence says that its company tracks down pertinent information on job candidates, like public postings on social media sites of “racist remarks or activities, sexually explicit photos or videos, and illegal activity such as drug use,” in addition to those of “charitable or volunteer efforts, participation in industry blogs, and external recognition.” The company’s gambit is to conduct meticulous online investigations on job applicants but only pass on to client-employers information that is legally safe for them to have. According to Social Intelligence, this is an all-around win-win situation.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s outreach manager, Joe Bontke, spoke with the New York Times and told the paper that violating antidiscrimination laws was a real risk for employers. He also gave the folks there two figures: 75 percent of American recruiters conduct mandatory online investigations on applicants and 70 percent of them report having snubbed applicants because of the information gathered through those investigations.

Read More:

http://www.socialintelligencehr.com/home

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/technology/social-media-history-becomes-a-new-job-hurdle.html?_r=2&hp

CEO Pierre Zarokian to Speak at Social Media Marketing Conference

Submit Express President and CEO Pierre Zarokian will be one of the keynote speakers at the Social Media Marketing Las Vegas 2011 conference, held at the Flamingo Hotel on January 12.

Zarokian’s session, entitled “Reputation Management using Social Media” will show attendees how to use social media to combat reputation management issues. Zarokian will discuss the latest reputation monitoring tools, illustrating the effectiveness of social media in brand protection.

Taking place one day after the popular Affiliate Summit, this exciting conference will feature the leading social media experts in the industry and will cover timely topics such as viral social media campaigns, how to get digital PR for your company, how tech writers cover social media and how to build communities for brands. Speakers include Murray Newlands, David Koloski, Eric Petersen, Neil Glassman, Andrew Dumas and many others.

Although tickets are on sale now, Submit Express is offering a great opportunity to win free passes. You can win a free pass when you tweet about the conference using code #subm10 #smlasvegas. The two best Tweets will get into the Social Media Marketing Las Vegas 2011 conference free of charge. You can also receive 10 percent off your ticket price by using the code subm10 when you sign up.

Registration and additional information are available online.

Discover Social Media Marketing Tips at SES San Francisco

Are you a marketing executive or advertising agency professional looking for greater insight into the changing world of social media marketing? If you are interested in learning more about how to utilize the latest trends, tools and technology to your advantage while creating viral campaigns through social media, you need to attend SES San Francisco from August 16-20 in San Francisco.

Professionals who go to the show at the Moscone West Convention Center gain exposure to the thoughts of the major players in the social media world. Executives from leading search engines, agencies and major corporations will explain the hottest trends in social media usage and explain how marketers can leverage this information to their advantage. You can also learn about key tools such as content optimization and analytics which can help you build a successful social media campaign.

Along with the ability to sit in on powerful sessions, seminars and special events, attendees can visit the exhibit hall where more than 100 companies will be showcasing their social media and search engine marketing tools and services. For more information on SES San Francisco, visit http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/sanfrancisco/index.php. In addition, Submit Express president and CEO Pierre Zarokian will be attending the show as well. Make sure you say hi to him at the show.

Our CEO, Pierre Zarokian, to Speak on Social Media Marketing

Our CEO, Pierre Zarokian, will be speaking on Social Media Marketing on August 6, 2009 at Tech Super Club in Santa Monica, CA.

Topics he will cover will include: major social media sites and usage stats; in depth look of Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin; Twitter Automation Tools; Social Bookmarking; Blog Strategies and more.

For more info visit:

http://www.techsupperclub.com/Social_Media_August_6.html

Marketers Adopt Social Media for Consumer Insight and Internal Collaboration

In a recent survey from the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Social Media Council, in partnership with HeadMix, 60% of DMA members representing nearly 40% of the Fortune 100 said that social networking can influence their company’s brand awareness in a significant way. Roughly 15% acknowledged social networking platforms as a core part of their business, 35% verified that trials of social networking programs are underway at their companies, and 25% said that they are currently evaluating their social media strategies. At the same time, though, most respondents classified their knowledge of social media as either beginning or average, and less than 25% said that they are “actively engaged” in social media.

Social media can also capture consumer insights, more than 45% of respondents said. However, among those surveyed, social media was not a dominant means for soliciting feedback; rather, traditional methods such as online customer satisfaction surveys, direct feedback from employees, and online customer forums remained the chief sources of insight.

Interestingly, respondents also highlighted internal collaboration as a benefit of social media. More than 70% currently use external social networks for better teamwork among employees, and more than three-fourths claim that these tools, including blogs, Twitter, RSS feeds, and mobile applications, have internal value.

Despite the high interest in social media, however, some companies have been reluctant to fully embrace it for its lack of quantifiable business value and security and privacy concerns. Other barriers to adoption respondents identified include opportunity for abuse by employees.

-Amanda Richter