Tuesday, January 18, 2011

How to do Viral Marketing in Social Networks


It’s no secret that Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking sites have grown exponentially over the past few years. Social media is arguably the most effective way to market to your targeted audience, when done right.

 

Mint Social's mindset is, "Bring your message to where the people are vs. trying to get them to your website. Strategically market to your prospects on their turf (social networks and other web 2.0 sites)."

 

The major search engines love social networks and you can’t overlook the link-building opportunities offered by social networking sites and others user-generated content sites.

 

We like to say, "Widgetize your marketing message for getting shared and for speading it across the web with the least amount of effort.".

 

Pitchy content is less likely to be shared and passed on through social connections vs. educational content. Want to go viral...contact the social media marketing company. Read the full post - http://bit.ly/iazxxI

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

In This Economy Are Businesses Hiring Social Media Marketing Internally?


Many businesses often face the question of whether to pay for social media marketing (SMM) services or to use someone in your own company to help you achieve your company’s online goals. Can you hire all the knowledge to build a long-tern social media marketing strategy or do you acquire your marketing foundation from a top social media marketing company? More companies fail using in-house SMM and social media optimization SMO “experts” than succeed because the learning curve and knowledge base hits a plateau. If going the in-house route, be sure to enroll your in-house champion(s) into education based associations like AZIMA, SEMPO, SMAZ and many more online marketing related educational associations like this. There are some critical things to consider and decision to make for selecting your SMM/SMO strategy.

Here is the most important thing to consider:

 

Do you have the appropriate resources and know how to get results and measure results with SMM/SMO?

CEO of Mint Social, Matt O'Brien says, "social media marketing it time consuming, especially if you do not have the right tools and the right plan to simplify your marketing efforts. As someone who has spent more than two decades doing this kind of work, Mint Social built their model by implementing our social media footprint process for over 100 clients. There’s a certain amount of dedication, skill, and experience needed in figure out the best methodology for tracking results and generating ROI (beacuse it is constantly changing). Your in-house must have the knowledge and access to the tools to maximize your marketing efforts with social media."

 

Your company is most likely not willing to get results based on a learning curve. Would you trust the success of your company to anyone who can't has not built a foundation and ongoing strategy that can be left behind if they are no longer working for the company?

Something you will not hear from most businesses in the SMM/SMO space is how to build your in-house team. Even if you have a short term plan for hiring the experts for the sake of bringing these resources in-house, make sure you find a company that is willing to transfer their expertise and share the tools they use to make you the most successful possible for when you bring your resources in-house.

Mint Social will give you the answers...learn more from the social media marketing experts.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

What to Look for in an Effective Internet Marketing Program

The Internet is flooded with a sea of websites. Everyone has one these days – businesses, nonprofit organizations, and websites for specific real estate properties for sale. If you do not have a website, get one up and then return to this post for the next step. If you have a website, do you ever feel like you have a billboard in a basement? Unless you have a very loyal Web surfers, your company most likely won’t get noticed unless you implement one of these strategies:

There seems to be as many SEO, SMM and PPC specialists out there that promise you great results as fish in the ocean but they can’t all be “the best,” so here’s how to figure out which online marketing company is right for you:

 

  1. Pay Per-Click (PPC) – This is a program in which you can pay to get clicks to your website. These are effective in getting you started, waiting for the major search engines to catch up. This is buying ads in Yahoo!, Google, MSN or Facebook and pay for every click that drives traffic to you website. Experts like Anthony Bajoras at Move Software can help.
  2. SEO – Your website’s pages are checked by certain scientific methods for a percentage of keywords that you choose so that you get targeted by the search engines. The top goal is to get on the first page of the results list of the major search engines, like Yahoo!, Google, or MSN.
  3. Search Engine Directories – This can be a costly venture, but it may be well worth the expense. Although it all depends what your budget can stand.
  4. SMM/SMO (Social Media Marketing - Social Meida Optimization) - bring your content to where 75% of people are on the Internet to build trust, community and inbound traffic. Learn more on the social media marketing blog of Mint Social.

Your online marketing consultants can help you decide whether to go the organic route, social marketing route or a fee-based plan. There are some consultants that may determine that a mixture of programs is what your company needs to stand out in the crowd. Find a program that is tailored to your niche market and helps your company meet all the goals you set, not only in visitor traffic but also to your bottom line. We all know that the more people that know about your company, the better your chances are of getting them to buy your goods or services.

Learn how to automate your online marketing with the best in class social media management tool.