Pages

Friday, August 31, 2012

Social Media News For The Week Of 8/30/12


Police embrace social media as crime-fighting tool

According to a recent survey of 1,221 federal, state and local law enforcement that use social media, four out of five officials used social media to gather intelligence during investigations. Full Story Here:

Party conventions get social, with major social-media ramp-up

The GOP and the Democrats have created bristling, bustling social-media rollouts for their conventions, in the biggest such effort in U.S. Full Story Here:

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Google Blogger

Google Blogger For Dummies [Kindle Edition]

Susan Gunelius (Author)

Are you bemused by blogs? Eager to become a blogger?

Google Blogger For Dummies can help you start blogging sooner than you think.More than 14 million people are promoting a business, connecting with family and friends, and sharing opinions with Google Blogger. This book helps you start a Blogger account, create content, build an audience, make money from your blog, and more, all without learning to program.

Available on Amazon

Posted via OnFast - http://www.OnFast.com

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Problem Resolution On Social Media - Part 3


In this last part of a series about resolving customer complaints and negative comments on social media networking sites, we will complete the process of turning a negative situation into a positive for your company. In the first part, we looked at the process of finding and analyzing negative comments to determine if they require you to respond. In the second part, we began the process by responding and then owning up to the problem while taking the high road.

1.  Apologize for the Problem

A customer with a valid complaint must receive a sincere apology from your company. If your company is in the wrong, admit it and say to the customer you are sorry. Don't try to make excuses, but promise to try and see that it never happens again.

2.  Offer to Move the Venue

In most complaint cases, the customer is not trying to drag a company through the mud in front of the world. They just intend to let off some steam in front of their friends and force you to respond to their displeasure. If they persist and are especially upset or become irate, offer them the opportunity to move the discussion to another venue, such as email or telephone. Suggest to them that social media's limitations, especially on Twitter, require another way for you to give them the full attention and response they deserve. Make the transition as easy as possible for the customer.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Using OnFast's Blog Posting Tool

 One of the many innovative features of OnFast's social tools for business is the blog posting tool. This tool makes it simple and easy to create keyword rich blog posts. The blog templates in the writing assistant provide ideas and content created specifically for your industry. This is especially helpful if you are either new to social media marketing or you need a little help finding ideas for content.  You can begin to post valuable information about your business in just Three easy steps:

1- From the Blog Posts screen click the "Add New Post" button, choose a template based on what kind of post you want to create. You can select from the writing assistant templates or choose a blank document.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Social Media News For The Week Of 8/24/12

Bubble Deflated, Social Media Will Now Change the World

In the aftermath of the disappointing Facebook IPO, there has been a flood of opinion stating that social media is nothing but a fade. This school of thought also goes on to state social media is not right for business. The situation is similar to the wake of the 2001 "dot-com" bust on Wall Street. Eleven years ago people were saying the Internet was nothing more than a fade. Those who don't learn from history... Full Story Here:

The Key Planets of the Social Media Universe (INFOGRAPHIC)


Business success with social media takes a multi-faceted approach. At its center is a blog, surrounded by multiple social media networks working in concert with each other. This interesting infographic explains social media strategy for business in a straight-forward manner. Full Story Here:

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Excellent Book for Bloggers


 Blogging the Smart Way - How to Create and Market a Killer Blog with Social Media

by
Jeff Bullas

So you Want to Make your Blog a Success?

If you are starting a blog or already have a blog and you want to grow your readers rapidly then this book will show you how to achieve that.

This book will also provide hundreds of tips to market your blog with social media.

Available on Amazon

Posted via OnFast - http://www.OnFast.com

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Problem Resolution On Social Media - Part 2

In part one of this series (8/14/12) about resolving problems and complaints on social media, we looked at how to find and analyze negative comments to determine if they require you to respond. Here in part 2, we will begin the process of successfully turning a negative comment or complaint into a positive for your company.

1.  Respond to the Problem
If you have already determined that the customer's complaint is legitimate and they are not just trying to bait you into a conflict, you need to respond quickly. Turning around at this point and ignoring the situation, and just hoping it will go away, could be disastrous. The negative comment could rapidly spiral out of control due to the nature of social media. In the past, businesses could sometimes get away with turning a blind eye to customer complaints. Those days are over today social media is empowering consumers as never before. One individual can literally have their message heard by thousands, or millions if the negative comment goes viral.

2.  Own the Problem
It is crucial at this point to not take anything said in the comments personally or as an insult. None of your company's comments should be seen as negative towards the complaining poster. If you feel their statements to be untrue or incorrect, simply state your response in a professional manner. If your company is in error, own up to it and admit the mistake very honestly and openly. Clearly point out that steps are being taken to prevent the issue from arising again in the future. Your other fans and followers, and possibly even the complainer, will admire your forthrightness.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Finding Easy Blog Content - Nonprofits


The theme of a nonprofit organization's blog should closely mirror the agency's mission statement. If you are struggling to come up with content for your nonprofit blog here are some ideas.

1. News Related to Your Core

Summarize news stories relevant to your organization's mission. Be sure to provide a link back to the original source. Add your own commentary to the story and ask for feedback from your blog audience. It is best to avoid overdoing news stories, or you will appear to be a spammer.

2. Appeals for Call to Action

All nonprofit organizations require the work and financial backing of others. Write call to action blogs asking for anything your group needs. Ask for more volunteers; make the appeal for more financial contributions, and request that people sign a petition about your group's issue (if appropriate). Whatever your nonprofit needs, just ask, you may be surprised at the response from your supporters.


Friday, August 17, 2012

Social Media News For The Week Of 8/17/12

Social Media Is Making A Big Impact On Small Business [INFOGRAPHIC]

According to an infographic put together by Bolt Insurance, small businesses are now embracing social media in a big way. The findings also indicate the trend is only going to rapidly grow in the future. 73% of small businesses use social media in their marketing efforts, with 81% of those planning on increased use yet to come. The majority of small to medium businesses which have not yet jumped on board with social media marketing plan to do so, with 62% adding social media to their marketing mix in the next year. Full Story Here:

Social Media Tools Boost Small Business Productivity

The global market for social media tools for business is expected to jump by 40%, increasing to $4.5 billion by the year 2016, according to a study by the research firm IDC. This trend is being driven by the desire of companies to gain more efficiency from their workforce. Full Story Here:

Social media proves a force in consuming Olympics


The recently ended London Olympic games has proven the power of social media to drive the public's attention to events. For example, the 50 million tweets estimated by Twitter regarding the Olympics, along with activity on other social networks, partially led to increased ratings for NBC's coverage of the games by 12 percent over Beijing four years ago. Full Story Here:

Social Media Is Much More Than Just Social and Media

Businesses need to understand multi-faceted nature of social media in order to derive the most benefit from using the medium in their marketing efforts. There is more at work beyond relationship and communication in social media. Other crucial factors include object, timing, type of message and the human component. Full Story Here:
Posted via OnFast - http://www.OnFast.com

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Social Media Tips - Think Mobile

The use of mobile devices and smartphones to access the Internet is literally exploding around the world. This should give any business that is not ready for the future of social media marketing via mobile pause to think. A recent study by the group PQ Media stated that 100 million people, and growing actively, use their smartphones to access the Internet. Another study found mobile devices provide 8% of all the traffic on the Internet. Facebook, in looking at their visitors for the month of December 2011, found 423 million of them used mobile devices to go on the site. The widespread use of mobile devices is only going to expand as time goes on.

For a business with a social media presence there are some important things to take away from these figures going forward. Mobile is here to stay and any company looking to compete on social media and the Internet should consider creating a mobile app for their website. For companies without a specific mobile app, optimizing their website by creating easily consumable content for mobile devices could prove to be critical.

This is a trend that will only increase around the globe. Businesses failing to have a strategy for marketing via mobile devices need to be thinking mobile.

Written and produced in beautiful Naples, Florida by OnFast.com. Visit OnFast.com today to get your free trial subscription to our Social Media Marketing Service.

Posted via OnFast - http://www.OnFast.com

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Did you know?

The world's most popular Facebook page is "Texas Hold'em Poker" with over 25 million likes. Followed by:

2.   Facebook
3.   Michael Jackson
4.   Lady Gaga
5.   Family Guy
Visit Onfast.com for a free trial.


Posted via OnFast - http://www.OnFast.com

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Problem Resolution On Social Media - Part 1

 As time passes, the tremendous benefits to businesses that use social media networks for marketing is becoming readily apparent.  But along with the benefits come certain possible pitfalls. Due to the very nature of social networks, your company's fans can directly comment about the products and services your business provides. This is for the entire world to see, both good and bad. To reap the benefits of social media, your business must be willing to take the bad as well. Your company's long-term success on social media may be determined by how you handle the negative side of the equation. A complaining customer on social media offers an opportunity for your company shine by positively resolving their problem and turning a negative into a positive.

1.  Monitor Your Networks
If your business is an active participant on social media you should already be doing this. The key is to find the problem posts as quickly as possible. The viral nature of social media means these issues can get rapidly blown out of proportion. Your analysis of the situation is swiftly needed. If your company is a bit overwhelmed keeping up with all the chatter, there are social monitoring tools available that can help. When you find problems and issues requiring your attention, take a screen shot of it so it is documented and can be properly handled in cases where the poster deletes or modifies the post, or the problem boils over into a larger issue.

Monday, August 13, 2012

OnFast's New Features: Manage Multiple Users, High Quality Photos, Updated Coupon Theme, Facebook Applications

OnFast is excited to present our new features this week, including the ability to manage multiple account users, access to high quality photos, an updated coupon look, Facebook applications and much more!

OnFast now provides users with the ability to have multiple users on a single account.  This functionality is ideal for small to medium sized businesses and allows several users to keep updated on their company's social media activities from one central location.  There are several tiers of user access, including administrator and staff member access.  Administrators can manage all aspects of their account, including user information, adding and removing users, and social media accounts.  Staff members are limited to just the ability to post to social network and blog accounts, and don't have access to user and account information.

Also new this week is a selection of high quality, royalty-free photos, that OnFast customers may use in their social network, blog and promotion postings.  The photos are found in all customer's media galleries and include several categories, including restaurant, golf, hotel and holiday photos.

When creating coupons, users will now notice an updated look and feel to their promotions.  This coupon redesign has been implemented with both mobile usability and aesthetics in mind.  Upcoming in the next few weeks is a selection of colorful coupon themes so check back soon.



Finding Easy Blog Content - Golf



A well-written and conceived golf course blog should be about everything that is happening at your club. Everyday members and their guests play the course, always seeking to improve upon the finer points of their game. Periodically the club holds golf tournaments that measure the skill levels of the club members in competition with each other. The club's pro shop offers special promotions, events and clinics from time to time for the club membership. These are all potential topics for golf course blog content.

Golf Tips and Advice
The golf pro of the club could offer tips, pointers and advice in the blog on a regular basis. The blogs don't even have to be lengthy. Some golf pros write blog posts in a "tip of the day" format. Including images and even video in these posts will improve their effectiveness and gain more attention to the blog. Summarize pro golf news with video links. Do reviews of new golf clubs and other gear. Also, ask the blog readers for golf advice questions and answer them with images or video as well. The golf pro has much to offer a golf club blog.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Social Media News For The Week Of 8/10/12

Olympic Games offer social-media lessons for small business

As the 2012 Olympic Games in London wind down, some clear lessons for small businesses using social media can be learned. The Olympics have offered examples of the right and wrong ways to use social media. Some important lessons: Think before you post, respond to customers quickly, don't bad mouth competitors, and you are in control of your social media. Full Story Here:

The Developing Role of Social Media in the Modern Business World

Business marketing use of social media has taken on a crucial role for companies in recent years, and the trend is still evolving. One thing is certain, business social is here to stay. However, many firms are still trying to get a handle on how to properly utilize the medium in an effective manner. Full Story Here:

Tablet, mobile users expect pages to load within seconds: report

With consumer use of mobile and tablet devices quickly on the rise, it is vitally important for businesses to deliver a quality experience for users. According to a study by Keynote Systems, of 5,000 people surveyed, 64% of smartphone users expect a web page to finish loading within 4 seconds. 82% have expectations of 5 seconds or less. 60% of tablet users expect to see a page load within 3 seconds. If these expectations not met, 16% will leave and never come back and 6% will go to a competitor. Full Story Here:

Why shopping will never be the same

The technology of smartphones, social media, and future developments such as 3-D printers will lead to the end of shopping as we know it. These technologies will combine to bring about the end of brick and mortar retail business models. The traditional retailers will become unrecognizable over the course of the next 10 years. Full Story Here:
Posted via OnFast - http://www.OnFast.com

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Blog Tips - Adding Calls To Action To Your Blog Posts

You will not get any results from a blog post that is lacking a call to action. Your post may be written very professionally in a terrifically engaging style you think is your best, but it loses its effectiveness without a call to action. Anytime you ask, suggest or tell your readers to do anything specifically, you are giving them a call to action.

Here are some examples:

  •  Asking people to subscribe.
  •  Suggesting readers buy from your company.
  •  Telling a customer they should try something.

These are just examples of calls to action, which can be anything that is useful, helpful etc. to your readers, but which also provides a benefit to you or your company.


 

1. Clearly and specifically state what you would like the reader to do

In your call to action make it very clear what you are asking of them. Leave no doubt about it and be specific. You can't leave a link and then expect all your readers to click on it. Say to them "Click Here for more information" "Click to find out more" etc. If you want them to leave their comments, tell them specifically what you want to hear about from them.

 

2. You can put your call to action at the end of the post

Many times the call to action will just naturally fit at the end and do its job effectively as your last thought to the reader. For example:

  •  Asking for comments below.
  •  Asking readers to share the post on their social media networks.
  •  For more information read... with a link.

 

3. You can sprinkle a call to action throughout the post

This gets your readers thinking about taking action before they are even finished reading your blog.

  •  Tell them "Find out more now by clicking..."
  •  Ask what they think by leaving comments.

Try these ideas for your next company blog post; they may help you attain the objectives and goals for your blog.

Written and produced in beautiful Naples, Florida by OnFast.com. Visit OnFast.com today to get your free trial subscription to our Social Media Marketing Service.




Posted via OnFast - http://www.OnFast.com

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Finding Easy Blog Content - Pest Control


Pest control is a service industry that is sometimes misunderstood and can produce fear and apprehension in some people. A well-conceived and clearly-written blog by a pest control expert has the power to break through the natural fear people have of pests and the chemicals used in their control. A pest control blog can be an effective tool in educating the public about the industry and fostering improved public relations for pest control companies. Here are some examples of blog content for pest control.

1. General Pest Information
Explain about each target pest species and where they are commonly found. Provide information that will help the public better understand the pests in their homes and businesses. For example, identifying features and hazards associated with pest, if any, is useful information for the readers of your blog.

2. Tips and Advice
Provide pointers and tips about how to prevent pest infestations before they become a problem and get out of control. Advice about topics such as proper sanitation, repair of leaks, and the trimming of vegetation around the home will be of great help to your blog audience.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Blogging Tips - Creating High Quality Content

You may have been writing a blog for some time or maybe you are contemplating starting a new blog for your business, either way it will happen to you - writer's block. It's an uncomfortable feeling of not having a clue of what you are going to write on the blank page staring back at you. The answer to the problem of writer's block lays in what your blog audience is looking for in the first place, high quality content. Here are three things you can do to improve your blog content and get over writer's block.

1. Do Your Homework
Research is the key to having something valid to offer to your audience. You need to have your facts straight and verify the accuracy of the material you are presenting in your blog. If you don't understand your content how can the readers? Taking the time to research the books, magazines, online articles, blogs, and company materials etc. before you get started. This will not only give you ideas of what to write, but you will have a better handle on the content your audience is seeking and will find interesting, relevant and useful.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Social Media News For The Week Of 8/3/12

Trial and Error for Business Social Media Will Fail

Many businesses fail to understand how to properly utilize social media in their marketing efforts, relying on trial and error without a plan or strategy. Clearly defined goals, reachable objectives and concrete metrics are necessary in carrying out a social media campaign. These elements, combined with thinking outside the box of traditional marketing, will lead to success on the medium. Full Story Here:

Sensible Social Media Checklist for Businesses v2.0 [Infographic]

Businesses that don't embrace social media will be left behind. However, many businesses which currently use social media still need a strategy for success. This infographic provides a common sense approach to implementing a social media marketing campaign. Full Story Here:

Social Media Hits Olympics

The 2012 Olympics in London is the first to be impacted greatly by social media. In the last Olympics in China social media access was difficult. Social media is changing the way the world interacts with the games and the brands which sponsor them. Full Story Here: 

Which Social Networks Take Home the Gold? [INFOGRAPHIC]

The social media agency, Ignite, just released the results of their annual report on the state of social media. The information is clearly laid out in a infographic and Twitter and Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, and LinkedIn are leading in rate of growth. Google , launched a little over a year ago, did not make the list of the fastest growing networks. Full Story Here: 


Posted via OnFast - http://www.OnFast.com

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Infographics - Part 2 - Why are Infographics Important?

The information graphic, or infographic as they are referred to, has become an exciting and new way for businesses to present their social media marketing material. This technique can transform content that, in written format, could be less than dynamic to the reader. Infographics can be effectively used to make factual and statistical data more appealing to the eyes.

Five Reasons Why Infographics Have Become Important

1. Infographics Are Fun

The visual nature of infographics makes learning fun and the consumption of information easier for the audience as well. People will remember a picture in their mind longer than words. As the old saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words".

2. They Are Engaging

Infographics present written text much more engagingly for the reader. When engaged, the audience is attentive to the message and open to suggestion.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Infographics - Part 1 - What Are Infographics?


In today's fast-paced world of social media marketing, you only have seconds to grab your prospects' attention and get your message across. Offer the audience boring content and they are gone in a flash, searching elsewhere. People have short attention spans and desire to consume information in small, easily digested visual pieces. This has led to the rise in video online marketing usage. A more recent development has been the infographic, a technique that falls between video and more conventional text-based content.

Infographics, which stands for information graphics, are a hybrid of a flashy color poster and a brochure that provides useful information. An infographic combines compellingly relevant data and information, and presents it in a highly visual way. They can be used to easily explain statistical and factual information, which may not interest the reader as much if it was presented as written block content. Written content of any kind may be broken down into segments that are simpler to comprehend. Readers can quickly grasp the message when it is laid out clearly within a visual context.