I've signed up. Now what do I do?

Once you have signed up and confirmed your account, be sure to login and explore OnFast's internal website.

Check the links in the "Getting started" box on your "Home" screen to create and schedule new social and blog posts, link your social network, and blog accounts to OnFast and setup your account and billing information.

There will be a free-trial banner at the top of your screen, which alerts you to the number of days remaining in your 30-day free trial. Be sure to upgrade your account to a paying plan prior to the end of the 30-day trial.

OnFast's New Features: Internal Changes

OnFast is excited to present our new internal features this week, including a new menu and consolidated social feed!

On login, the traditional tab layout has now been replaced by a new left hand menu (or drop menu for smaller browsers), allowing customers to easily get to all elements of the program, as well as improving the internal aesthetics.

How do I create and distribute a coupon for my business?

Distributing company coupons is a great way to keep loyal customers happy and drive new customers to your business. OnFast provides a simple and quick way to create and disseminate these coupons through your blog and social network channels.

To create and schedule a new coupon, select "Coupons" on either the "Home" or "Campaign" screen and then click on the "Add New Coupon" button. You can then enter the start and expiration dates, number of coupons to be distributed, coupon offer, coupon rules and the channels to which you'd like to distribute.

Blog, Blogger, Blogosphere

So what do these terms mean, and what can a blog do for my business?
 
New users to the social media world ask us all the time. "Just what is a Blog?"  Well, a Blog is a web site where you can post things about yourself or your business.  The word Blog is an acronym for Web Log. Take the last four letters and you have Blog. 


One of the more popular services that provides users with a free blog service is Google's Blogger. www.blogger.com With a little experience you can utilize some of the more advanced Blog features like posting pictures and links to other content sources. In fact, Blogs are designed to be easy-to-use by the non-programmer and the non-technical community.

Service your existing customers and find new ones

This is good advice and a simple common sense business strategy for success. In the process, it certainly can't hurt to tell your customers how much you appreciate their business. 

Fresh revenue from new customers is the fundamental cornerstone for the growth of any business. Acquiring new customers clearly needs to be a top priority in today's competitive business climate.  The trouble is, getting new customers is often a huge job in itself when you're focused on the day-to-day running of your business.

When it comes to communicating with potential customers, many small businesses simply don't have abundant time or technical resources to create sophisticated content or marketing campaigns. Moreover, hiring staff or an agency to do the work can be cost prohibitive. Today, small businesses are faced with huge advertising challenges that are seemingly insurmountable.

How to Link Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogger, Etc to Your OnFast Account

Once you've signed up for an OnFast account, in order to fully utilize the services OnFast has to offer, you will need to link your social network and blog accounts to OnFast. This enables our software to automatically schedule and post your coupons via social network and blog posts, saving you both time and money. 

To either link new accounts or view your already linked accounts, click the "Social Networks and Blogs" link on the "Home" screen. There will either be a manage or add button next to each social network and blog, depending on whether you've already linked the account. To add a new account, click on the "Add Link" button. This will take you to the social network/blog's setup screen . Once on that screen, click on the "Add Link" button (see below).

The Rationale for a Small Business to Blog and Blog Often

In these challenging economic times small businesses with limited advertising budgets need all the help they can muster.  Traditional legacy forms of advertising that utilize cumbersome ad agencies and media gatekeepers are not a cost effective answer.

Today, tech savvy businesses are turning to Internet based campaigns that seek to build trusted relationships by interacting with potential customers directly.

Surprisingly, one of the most effective ways to get noticed on the Internet is often overlooked.  Enter the Blog (a blend of the term "web" and log).  Basically, a Blog is a business or personal journal published on the Internet

A typical Blog combines text, images, links to Web pages and most importantly, social media sites.