A local business has its own challenges and pluses. While the market is small, the advantage is that one can easily plan and market their services. Local businesses have to take a slightly different path to reach social media success.

Here are some NEW techniques that can be useful for marketing a local business on social networking site:

Find Out The Most Popular Sites

It’s important to know where your local crowd is. Facebook and LinkedIn may be very popular on records, but is that where your TG is?

For instance: There was a time when Facebook was extremely popular in Turkey and Canada while Iran was living on Orkut; similarly Twitter was a Japan thing and LiveJournal was a Russian favorite.

This simply means, one has to know where the local crowd is before making wild jumps in to social networking sites.

Make A Genuine Profile

Whether it’s a Gravtar or profile, in either ways keep it honest. Pick things of your choice, list interests and start connecting with people.

Once you build genuine bonds, people will know you as a person. Slowly build on this genuine connection and share products and services. Of course this can be your company profile; you can have your company name as well, but don’t forget to be a “human being” first!

Take interest In Local Activities

If yours is a local business, you need to be close to the locals. Where are they going, what activities are they participating in, what are their reviews and other such things are going to be of relevance to them. If they are interested in this, so should you be! After all, local businesses run by local buyers. Take interest in their lives – interact on social networking sites and participate in conversation.

Create Interesting Activities

Create fun games online!! Yes! Do that.
You don’t have to go out and hire a software engineer to design games but you can design activities around your locality.

For instance, keep contests on social media sites related to your city or state. Your page can have activities that give away freebies of your products. These activities could have a local flavor. Something like – post a picture of the most beautiful park in our city and win free coupons to the amusement park fair – something of the sorts.

Be Casual With Promotions!

Last, but not the least, be casual! Since you are a local person on the local forum of social networking sites, chances are that most of the people who might be your buyers, already know you! Perhaps you have crossed roads, or are in neighboring cities – no matter how near or far you are, every person has aa slight idea about who you are already. Hence, the best deal is to be casual. You aren’t like Apple Inc. or Dell Computers – the companies that are so huge and so far. You are a local businessman, and people can get in touch with you. Your promotions should be causal, as though not letting them know that THIS is promotions!

So, keep it simple, be casual and enjoy social networking while improving your companies’ virtual presence. All the best!

Author Bio: Divya, working with an SEO Company, has experience as a consultant and professional Content Writer . She blogs regularly on topics of e-commerce, SEO, SMO and enjoys research and web development.

When social media took flight in the days of Myspace, nobody expected it to be the way it is now. MySpace introduced the world to a new way of communication that seemed to change the life of every person. Then Facebook came along using the basics of MySpace while adding new features to enhance the social media experience.

As Facebook rose to the top, many new companies came along searching for a piece of the pie. Those who were loyal to MySpace kept their profile but Facebook gave them so much to get familiar with. As they seemed to forget about MySpace the increased competition sent MySpace to the grave and led to the rise of Twitter and LinkedIn. As Twitter stepped on the scene with its 140 characters and unique look, people who frequently communicate on Facebook, created a Twitter account to see what it was all about. The birth of these new websites still couldn’t slow down Facebook but Google + was in the background with a secret of their own.

Facebook continued to shows its hand and unveil new products not knowing that Google was working on Google+. While Facebook spent most of its time trying to keep it users happy, platforms like Google+ continuously look for ways to generate new users. People love options but the generic friendships on Google+ do not seem to have the same appeal and sustainability when compared to Facebook. With over 800 million users it is safe to say the 40 million Google+ users are more than likely already on Facebook. Many celebrities like Britney Spears and Pit Bull are fan favorites on Google+ but there is not any real communication. It is actually more of a promotional page that seems to be ran by publicist.

Google entered the social media scene and tried to control the amount of users who could sign up by making it invite only. That actually had a negative effect because it took away the interest for those who wanted to sign up right away. While Google built its social media brand to overthrow Facebook it looks like it will be many years before the search engine giant will reach the number one spot. The buzz surrounding Google+ and its hangout feature was supposed to be big selling point but it has not worked as a way to excite social media users.

What works for one business might not work for another, and Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter each have their pros and cons. As a result, many businesses create pages on all three sites, thinking that “more is better”. However, I don’t think that’s always advisable, especially for small businesses. This is primarily because many businesses tend to create and then abandon their social media profiles. Google Local finds information about local businesses based on their social networking information.

This means that if you have an abandoned social media profile, or one that has conflicting information with another profile, then you could show up local on Google Local business searches. This will hurt many local businesses a lot more than failing to reach out to the few people who are still on Google Plus or MySpace but not on Facebook. It’s fine to have multiple profiles if you maintain all, but remember that each social media site is different so content that works for one might not work for others. Social media is great for connecting with users, but it’s not really a broadcast medium. I’m reviewing Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter from a small business perspective so that you can figure out which one to use your business.

Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social media site and Facebook users are easy to target with ads. Small businesses can make pages for free and They can also have ads which are very easy to target. For example, your business can make an ad aimed only at people who “Like” a certain page. There are pages for companies, interests, and even individual movies and sports teams. Furthermore, ads can be tailored based on people’s browsing history, since Facebook uses cookies to track websites that people go to while they’re logged onto Facebook. These features are standard on most social networks but Facebook’s main draw is that everybody’s already using it, so they don’t have to go through an extra step of setting up an account to see your ads or be exposed to your company’s page.

Google Plus

Google Plus is similar to Facebook, but unfortunately it’s held back by low usership. Plus, Google’s tied it into other Google services, such as Gmail and Google Search, which prevents it from presenting a Google Plus brand to potential new users so it’s unlikely to ever become widespread among ordinary people. On top of that, Google Plus may violate anti-trust laws because Google yesterday announced that it will include things that people “+1” (Google’s version of Facebook’s “Like” feature) in their Google search results. If Google loses an anti-trust lawsuit over this tie-in, it might be forced to remove other tie-ins that are beneficial to small businesses, such as using people’s Google searches to tailor ads toward them in Google Plus.

Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging broadcast service, whereby users subscribe to other users and can send and receive blog posts of up to 140 characters long. This means it’s a great outlet for giving quick updates. However, it’s limited by the 140 character limit and there’s a large overlap with Facebook, since tweets are very similar toward Status Updates in that both are broadcast and seen by people who like your company’s page or are subscribed to your company’s Twitter account. The short post length makes it hard to reach out to subscribers with useful content, so many subscribers could become “blind” to your company’s Twitter account because they’ll see your Tweets as spam.

It is, however, a completely different type of social network than Facebook and Google Plus, and it has some advantages. People can talk about the same subject by using metatags and see what everybody else who’s using these metatags is saying (Facebook has a similar feature but it’s not ubiquitous yet). This means that you can use Twitter to create buzz about a product launch or whatnot, and then control the dialogue and reach out to many highly targeted users at minimal cost.

This is a guest post by Steve Sims. Steve does PR, marketing, and writing work for Influence People. Influence People is an online marketing and blogger outreach consulting firm in San Francisco. Influence People writers write on many topics, such as INTENTclick.

Social media has exploded in recent years due to sites such as YouTube, Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, and thousands of other social marketing websites. What really stared the trend was in 2004 at a web conference the term “Web 2.0” was coined by Tim O’ Rilley. Web 2.0 is a way for internet users to directly interact with other internet users on the web via social networking sites, social bookmarking sites, social media sites, blogs, etc. When internet marketers realized the potential of these social media sites is as a way to gather customer information they began to join social and actively participate in these networks. There is a goldmine of information that customers share on social media websites.

All these new means on communication created new jobs in the internet marketing field. There are now companies desperately seeking out designers, programmers, internet marketers, and social media gurus to maintain and grow the company’s presence on the web. Businesses even have entire departments devoted to social media marketing specialists that spend all day interacting with others on the web. This has become a full time job and if your business is not participating in social media marketing strategies then they are falling behind and losing customers to their competitors.

What does all this mean for you? It means there are many job opportunities available in the field of social media marketing due to the influence of the internet and the trillions of websites that have emerged. All these websites are potential employers and many of these businesses are very lucrative; while the majority is unfortunately failing. This is where internet marketing, specifically search engine optimization and social media marketing techniques come into play. If you are looking to get a job involving social media there are endless opportunities out there; from start ups looking to make a name for themselves to established businesses that are looking to boost their presence on the web.

Most social media jobs do not require formal schooling or college degrees, but rather prefer to see that you have had hands on training and experience in the field of social media. You have to love internet marketing and always stay up on the latest trends and topics because what works today may no longer work tomorrow. The internet evolves at a rapid pace so formal education does not play a role in the hiring process; although it is always a good idea to get a college degree in Business Marketing. If you are looking for upper level positions you may want to inquire a MBA program in your local area.

MySpace was once the largest haven for marketers, musicians, and people to visit. That lasted for a few years and then Facebook emerged. Facebook changed the game completely with the live stream, chat features, image and video tagging, and many other innovative features. A few years later Twitter emerged as a micro-blogging platform and has become a favorite site for most internet users. And do not forget about YouTube, which is the second most popular site on the web. All these changes happened so quickly and unexpectedly that to be a successful internet marketer you need to always be reading social media news.

Many job boards have emerged in recent years such as Monster, Indeed, Career Builder, Craig’s List, and many others. These are like social networking websites that allow employers to post jobs and employees to seek out jobs related to their expertise. Another useful way to find a job I to go to the website and search for employment opportunities or a contact us page. This will lead you on your way to finding out who is hiring and how the selection process works.

The of landscape of social media has changed in many ways since the days of MySpace. While many people do not like change there are millions who embrace it with open arms. The swing in social media has come at a time when users continuously want is the newest thing. Those who were fortunate enough to take part in the tech boom have been found a way to stay involved and give users what they want. Sean Parker of Napster fame is one of these people and you can be sure he will not slow down anytime soon.

A new breed of programmers have teamed up with those who were around in the very beginning. Sean Parker is well known for his role as Napster Creator. His knowledge and expertise of what people want is the main reason he has managed to keep his place in social media. Everybody thought they had heard the last of Sean Parker when he lost his courtroom battle with Metallica and the music industry. That was until he found out about Facebook and used his name to befriend Mark Zuckerberg. His cool guy persona and technology expertise led to him becoming one of the initial Facebook investors. When he stepped down from his position at Facebook, the social media world should have known it would not be the last they hear from Sean Parker.

The tech boom has opened the door for new ideas and made a way for programmers to become millionaires. The competition has led to the creation of powerful partnerships similar to that of old mafia families. As new programmers work to build their brand, advice and financing from social media legends is well invited. When Sean Parker signed a check to become an investor in Spotify it definitely put a smile on the face of Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Sean Parkers ability to predict what social media users want was put on display in the blockbuster movie Social Media. It was only a matter of time before he used his knowledge and contacts to boost the Spotify appeal.

When Facebook held its annual developers conference Sean Parker was on hand with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. The buzz surrounding Spotify just might be the reason they were able to generate 100 million dollars in funding during the month of June. The new partnership with Facebook is sure to bring Spotify new users and more money. To celebrate the success of Spotify Sean Parker decided to host a lavish event that will never be forgotten by the millionaires and billionaires who were invited.

Time flies on wings and it is time that has made everything around us transitory. In our walk of life we meet people and then tend to lose being in touch with them.  We can’t really blame anyone given to the cause that life has now become quite hectic. Everyone seems to be in a rush and with the technological advancements; we have sort of given ourselves an online existence. Our social life has now become all the social networking sites where our profiles make us what we are to the world. We now interact with our long lost friends, colleagues and distant relatives through the social networking sites. Nothing is bad about it though as social networking sites like Facebook has given us enough space to pour ourselves out on its pages. It has given us apps, the power to create groups, be a part of communities, like and comment posts, the freedom to share our thoughts, upload pictures and videos and what not. With new features being introduced to keep its 800+ million users contented, Facebook Timeline is a new feather added to the cap.

However, despite its popularity it has been noticed that the Facebook Timeline is yet to make their appearance across all the profiles in Facebook. It is upto the users to enable the feature and publish it, many users are still sticking to their older profiles. This might be so because many of us are yet to realize the importance of it, both in personal and professional terms. It is therefore important that one first knows what the Timeline is all about. To put in simple terms, the Facebook Timeline is a medium to document your life in a digital format right from the time you create the profile till date through posts, photos and events.

When we are saying that the Facebook Timeline presents a slice of the user’s life, then it is true. A slice as it has got privacy settings to display just as much as you want to the other followers. Your profile is your private space and how much public you want to make it is dependant on you. The Facebook Timeline can be easily added just buy using the button ‘Get Timeline’. Once the user has enabled the feature, he or she can now wait to ‘Publish It’ to the profile. Until and unless it is published, no one else can view it.

The Facebook Timeline is divided in certain parts. The beginning allows the user a cover. It’s like the first step- a book cover- it is a picture that represents you and the first thing that the visitors can see. Next comes the ‘Your Stories’ section where as the user one can write down the posts, upload pictures and note down events to be shared with friends and family members. Use the ‘Apps’ to talk about your interests as in music, movies and any other hobby.

Shifting to the professional perspective and recent reviews have brought this to the limelight that a Facebook Timeline can very well be an online resume. That is what employers are treating it to be. This is a better way to know applicants, they say. The chronological description of your life’s events tells a lot about who you are. With the Timeline chalking out the details according to specific time frames, navigating through the user’s profile is easy (a fast Internet service by the internet service providers is good for quick loading of the pages). You get to know what you just want to know rather than doing unnecessary amount of searching. It is however upto the user to see that any prospective employer is viewing the right details related to your career. An organized list is what can make things easier.

For businesses also, the Facebook Timeline can do wonders. It can capture mass attention and a good number of followers, go for good brand promotion and create value through this social media platform. An interesting page with the company’s achievements over the years can score more over a static website.

Facebook Timeline is therefore like a picture album which chronologically lays out your important events and memories. It can be termed as a social scrapbook through which the users can flip through the pages and take a journey backwards in time.

About the Author: Adriana Jones is a Freelance and Staff writer who writes informative articles on internet service providers in different areas. She is an expert on topics related to cables internet providers, broadband services, telecom etc.

Gone are the days of classifieds, pamphlets and handouts, advertisements and conferences. It’s now the age updates and shares, likes and dislikes. The new age of marketing has entered new vistas. The unique blending of technology and marketing has awed users and businesses worldwide. Social Media is the in thing and most businesses are utilizing this exclusive utility tool and technique to promote and to profit.

Since the year 2008 there has been a considerable rise in the branding and marketing activities of various companies. About 16% of existing businesses on the internet said that blogs and network advertising were some of the most effective ways of promoting businesses. Online distribution of news, press releases, user reviews and ratings, discussion groups, social profiles on networking sites were among other successful business strategies.

With social networking and social media in the broader sense of the term creating a niche in the marketing industry, various companies and business owners are now considering tagging over emailing. Business communication is changing at a rapid pace, with companies using tagging and Share techniques to spread information and news not just to customers but for internal staffs as well. The contributing fun environment in the workplace is one of the greatest hikes. These social tools aid collaboration and dissemination of information. And without surprises, no trainings are required for using Facebook or Orkut.

Social Media has a new healthy flavor too, with Non Profit organizations utilizing to drive opinions nad donations for social causes. This refers to Social Good. Social Good is a budding concept embraced well in west, however to what extent this good would be for the society depends on other factors too. Recently launched ‘Sweet Sixteen Foundation’, which has set out to celebrate lives of 300 orphans surviving from the Haitian earthquake and Alabama tornadoes, is one of the finest examples of Social good. Utilizing one of the most popular networking sites – Facebook, the organization has touched millions of hearts.

Social Media has unfathomable uses out of which these might be categorized a few of them:

Introducing new products and services; sharing success stories on YouTube can become viral and thus boost branding.  Facebook Social Profile can also demonstrate what the company does and showcase its portfolios in front of prospective clients.

Social Media is thus a vast ocean that has enough to offer everybody. However it has tags attached too. A lot depends on the clients’ awareness and openness to go public the social way.

Facebook recently made changes to its platform by adding a subscription button to its list of features. Now, Facebook allows you to subscribe to a page without the requirement of being “friends” first. However, a Facebook user must enable the subscribe button in their settings. This allows anybody, regardless of if they are friends or not, to follow your posts.

Understanding Subscription Changes

The Facebook changes include giving you the option to filter capabilities pertaining to your news feeds. Feeds can now be filtered from friends and non-friends alike. The “non-friends” are those whose posts an user has subscribed to. For example, you can subscribe to a person’s posts, but request not to receive any updates from that user. The idea is to increase desirable content and reduce “clutter.”

Advantages of Subscription Changes

You no longer have to create a different page aside from their main profile page since being a “friend” is no longer a requirement to subscribe. Facebook Pages still have certain perks beyond what an user gets with a traditional personal Facebook page. The main advantage of this feature is that it allows you to separate your personal friendships with your professional or business contacts. Updates can be setup so they relate more to your specific professional brand. Personal updates can remain private between you and your friends.

Benefits of the Real-Time Ticker

Another substantial change to Facebook is the addition of a real-time ticker. The ticker shows updates of actions taken by both friends and those you have subscribed to without making them your friend. Additionally, the ticker, located on the ride side of your wall on your main Facebook page, shows brands that you have liked. The ticker itself is also interactive, meaning you can react to posts, “like” something and make comments.

Making New Facebook Features Work for You

The fact that you no longer have to be accepted as a “friend” to subscribe along with the interactive real-time ticker provides an easier way to interact with clients and customers. You can find out what brands your contacts like and what they are talking about. Think of it as a new way to engage your audience and even participate in conversations. Instead of trying to appeal to everyone at once, you can target your efforts to those that have an interest in your brand.

Future Facebook Changes

Facebook has plans to make some additional changes in the future. Right now these changes are in the early testing phases, being made available to only a select group of people to get feedback and make adjustments. One of these proposed changes is a timeline that would show the most important details in your life as opposed to a chronological list of all posts. A searchable timeline would appear on the side so you can view what others are doing in the same general time frame. Another proposed change is adding the ability to place a photo spanning the entire page to your Facebook profile.

Making Facebook Changes Work for You

These Facebook changes can be applied to your professional pages along with your personal page. The timeline feature allows you to see what is important to your contacts. The photo option can be used to emphasize your brand or business, just make sure the photo is relevant to the message you are trying to convey. Add to this the subscribe feature and it becomes even easier to separate your personal life from your professional life and still be able to enjoy the features of Facebook.

Change can be intimidating at first, but understanding the new changes to Facebook can help you use them to your best advantage. Social networks can be a double-edged sword, but knowing what tools you have available to you and how to use them gives you the upper hand. Ultimately, technology can be a wonderful thing if you adjust it to fit your needs.

Author Bio: Fergal Glynn is the Director of Product Marketing at Veracode, an application security company that offers Web security testing tools.

Social media started out with the MySpace monopoly. Then the world witnessed the rise of Facebook and Twitter. Just when you thought the tide was calm, a series of new social media platforms emerged looking for a piece of the pie. Some may think there is too many websites to keep up with but the people at Yammer have a different outlook on the future of social media.

The name Yammer may seem like a joke but this group of people is all business. The basic idea behind Yammer is an enterprise social networking site for corporate employees to hold discussions. Yammer is in good hands because its founder is none other than David Sacks who earned notoriety when he held the COO position with PayPal. When Sacks started Yammer in 2008 nobody knew if his vision would be well received. That all changed when some of the most influential people in social media took notice. When it came time to generate funding for the startup it was clear that Yammer was on the right track.

One man who was around for the rise of Facebook took his talents and hefty bank account elsewhere. Facebooks former Vice President Chamath Palihapitiya returned to his roots as a venture capitalist Instead of sticking around to be apart of the next stages in Facebook . His new business venture Social+Capital Partnership has been making a name for it self recently because of its relationship with Yammer. Most of the conversations having to do with Chamath Palihapitiya being the man behind the money. His time at AOL, Mayfield Fund and Facebook, gives him and his company Social+Capital Partnership strong credibility in the business world. Not to mention the large amount of wealth that can be used to back his ideas and resume.

The first round of funding for Yammer brought in close to 41 million dollars. This latest round of funding led by Chamath Palihapitiya and Social+Capital Partnership helped to add another $17 million. Chamath Palihapitiya is one reason Yammer generated such a large amount of money. His company Social+Capital Partenership put in $15 million that boosted the funding up to the $17 million dollar mark. This large $15 million investment is one way to see that Chamath Palihapitiya truly believes in what Yammer has to offer. The fact that this deal also gave Social+Capital Partnership a board observers seat at Yammer also had a lot to do with the large investment.

There was a time when people spent hours trying to perfect their MySpace page. You had the option to decorate with pictures, creative back rounds and music to reflect who you are. MySpace was the first of its kind and our preview into the world of social media. As MySpace found its way into households world wide, it was only a matter of time before competition would creep up from behind.

The MySpace era of social media seems to have gone just as fast as it began. In 2005 News Corp. purchased a thriving MySpace for $580 million. At that time they were the first to have a major impact on social media and the way we share information. The birth of Facebook and Twitter seemed to put a dent in the armor of MySpace. The advertising programs and cult like movement of Twitter and Facebook led to their share of control in the world of social media. News Corp revamped MySpace and geared it more towards music marketing as a way to co exist but that did not work well and consequentially sent MySpace into dinosaur like extinction.

Once users jumped ship for more advanced outlets like Facebook and Twitter, advertisers did the same. Sean Parker, co founder of Napster and ex President of Facebook spoke to Jimmy Fallon and explained why he thought MySpace was on its way out. “[MySpace failed] to execute the product development,” he told Fallon. “They weren’t successful in iterating and evolving the product enough, it was basically this junk heap of bad design that persisted for many, many years. There was a period of time where if they had just copied Facebook rapidly, I think they would have been Facebook. The network effects, the scale effects were enormous. There was so much power there.”

Users of social media giants Facebook and Twitter will always remember MySpace for the way it changed our lives. On this 30th day of July in the year 2011, News Corp. is finalizing a deal that would sale MySpace to Justin Timberlake and his friends at Specific Media. I am hoping you were not expecting to hear a sale price anywhere near the purchase price of $580 million. MySpace will be turned over to its new operators for a mere $35 million, which is better than nothing if you look at it from the News Corp. perspective. Specific Media is looking to mix its knowledge of online advertising operations with the popular appeal of Justin Timberlake to provide social media users with a MySpace they can be excited about.