How Social Media Makes Money For Your Business -- Creating Value

Social media marketing has a tremendous capacity for creating value, for both customers and the businesses serving their needs. Social media facilitates this when companies connect with their customers and those customers in turn purchase products and services. The key to this value creation is the establishment of true connection between brands and their customers on social media networks.

How Social Media Creates Value:

A true connection on social media is made when brands offer something valuable to their followers. What is being offered may have a direct monetary value, but not necessarily. It could come in the form of useful information or advice related to a brand’s niche industry and its products. Or, it could just as easily come in the form of a 15% off Facebook only coupon. Central to the creation of value on social media is the idea of giving, which is required of brands to be successful on social media. Social business has re-ignited the concept of value-added marketing. Rather than interrupting people’s lives with tradition marketing messages, social marketing is welcomed by people into their lives because it is beneficial to them. Here are some specific ways social media accomplishes this result.

Using Facebook for Employment Search

Although Facebook is thought of mostly as a social networking site for keeping up with friends and family, the network has much to offer those who are seeking employment or changing jobs. A survey by Jobvite.com found that more than 44 percent of all job seeking related activity takes place on Facebook. The nearly universal acceptance of the network has led to over 900 million users, a potentially rich resource for the job seeker.

Ways to Use Facebook for Employment Search: 

1. Status Updates - Make sure you keep your network updated on the status of your job search and the type of position you are seeking. Be sure to remind them periodically, so they don’t forget about you.
2. Networking - The vast numbers of Facebook users means, not only are all of your friends, family, and business related colleagues on the network, but potential employers as well. This is an advantage of using Facebook for a job search; the network puts you in front of many people.
3. Make Sure your Profile is Complete and Clean - Your profile should be complete and contain all of your work experience and educational information. If you have a profile on LinkedIn (you should), copy over all of the information from there. Since employers will be looking at your profile, clean up any images or status updates  which may be damaging to your professional reputation.
4. Join and Interact with Groups - Professional interest groups are on the rise on Facebook. Join the groups related to your field and interact with other group members. This expands your sphere of influence and the number of contacts you have exponentially. Each contact gained opens new possibilities for you.
5. Follow the Companies that Interest you - Once again, research by Jobvite.com has shown that over 80 percent of companies use social media to find their employees. Just “Like” their page and you will receive updates and news from the company in your  Facebook newsfeed. Also, many company pages provide links for people seeking employment. Take full advantage of your contact with these companies by really showing interest and actively engaging with them.

Mobile Marketing -- What Is Mobile Marketing?

Smartphones and mobile devices are everywhere now and have practically become ubiquitous. Closely related to this phenomenon is mobile marketing, a concept that is still evolving, but needs to be understood by businesses of all sizes. In this, the first of a three part series, we will examine just what mobile marketing is. In the following segments, we’ll see why it is so important for businesses to get involved and the ways to engage in mobile marketing.

 

What is mobile marketing?

Mobile marketing can be defined as marketing and advertising that reaches its intended target audience by way of the audience’s mobile device or smartphone. There are various components and methods of mobile marketing that a business must be aware of, including:

 

SMS - This stands for short message service and refers to text only messaging and limited to a length of 160 characters. This can be utilized for sending marketing information, such as coupons, directly to the audience.

 

MMS - Stands for multimedia messaging service, and provides the audience with messages containing images, video and audio.

 

Mobile Internet - This includes mobile websites and internet sites, specifically optimized to properly function and be visually appealing on mobile devices.

                              

Mobile Apps - Downloadable software applications for smartphones and mobile devices.

 

Mobile Advertising - These usually appear as ads on mobile devices during the loading process of mobile web pages, as banners at the top or bottom. Mobile gaming ads, along with SMS or MMS, are other forms of mobile advertising.

 

The relatively new technologies that are yet unfolding are being rapidly adopted by the public. This combined with the growing use of social media networks by both consumers and businesses are factors driving mobile marketing to the forefront of importance to brands. In part two, we will see in more detail why mobile marketing is so important to companies.

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

Social Media News For The Week Of 11/2/12

Small Businesses Don’t Have Time for Social Media -- and Don’t Track Results

The results of a study by the online marketing firm, Vertical Response, indicate that small businesses have adopted social media in a big way, but think they are spending too much time on the medium. One third of business owners wish they could spend less time on their social media marketing efforts. Most businesses using social media marketing are unaware of their return on investment figures, as only 36 percent utilize paid tools which will give them analytical data and schedule posts. Full Story Here:

4 Social Media Metrics You Should Measure

As businesses come to terms with the fact social media is here to stay and not some fad, the importance of tracking their endeavors on the medium is becoming clear. Monitoring social media’s impact on a company’s bottom line is vital. Keeping track of factors such as brand awareness, website traffic, site loyalty, and conversion rates are crucial in determining the success of any social media marketing effort. Full Story Here:


Social-Media Users Flock to Facebook for Sandy Updates

With the ongoing disaster of Hurricane Sandy unfolding in the Northeast U.S., people have turned to social media for news, help and comfort. The social media networks, Facebook and Twitter, have been the platforms of choice during this crisis. This clearly underlines the level of importance social media as attained in our society. Full Story Here:

Ask a Business Expert: Social media vital to all business

Social media is becoming increasingly part of everyday life and a tool to express individuality as much as brand awareness. This fact underscores the importance to businesses to craft and adopt a clear social media strategy and company policies for employees. Determining who will play a role and making sure all involved are on the same brand page, is paramount to the success of your company’s social media efforts. Full Story Here:

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