OnFast Coupons and Coupon Builder App

Everyone knows consumers love feeling like they are getting a deal and of course; merchants live to make a sale. So the rise of social coupon sites, such as Groupon, should not have been such a surprise. What also shouldn’t be surprising is the downfall of those sites, following their initial meteoric impact. Ultimately, these social coupon offers have left the merchants losing serious revenue. For the largely one-time only customers they gain from the offers, they have to give up to 50% of what is already a discounted price, to the social coupon site.

OnFast, the all-in-one social marketing solution, provides a better answer to your business equation. An important component of OnFast’s solution is our Coupon Builder and companion Coupon Builder App for mobile devices. This provides the merchant with the functionality to easily and quickly, create and distribute discount and promotional coupons to their customers. These coupons can be effectively presented to customers across the social networks where they gather, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr, or found on your blog. They can even be exported for your own email distribution. With OnFast’s convenient scheduling tool, the coupons can be sent out for immediate distribution or scheduled for release at a later date and time. Remember, not all of your customers and prospects are on social media networks, so coupons can be put directly on your website as well.

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.

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Social Media News For The Week Of 5/10/13

Small Business Favors Social Media Over Location Marketing

Small businesses are utilizing social media marketing and mobile technology at a much higher adoption rate compared to location-based promotion sites, such as Foursquare. According to a study conducted by Constant Contact, an amazing 97 percent of small business owners are using social media networks in their marketing efforts. Furthermore, 66 percent report they are using mobile devices or apps as a component of their marketing strategy as well. This in contrast with only 17 percent utilization of location-based marketing. Full Story Here:


New Social Media Technologies of 2013 (So Far)

People now spend approximately 20 percent of their online time surfing social media sites, according to research by Buffer. With the ever-growing popularity of social networking, new technologies have appeared in the first half of 2013 which look to have an impact on users. New platforms such as Chirp and Flavyr could transform the way media and images are shared across social media. Full Story Here:


Facebook Tops List of Small Business Social Media Sites

The office products company, Staples, recently surveyed small businesses and found Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (in that order) are the favored social media platforms for marketing purposes. 40 percent of theses businesses state they have gained by using social media, while 61 percent report they are using at least one social network in their marketing strategy. Full Story Here:


Can Social Media be Your Primary Marketing Strategy?

While social media can be a key piece of a business’ overall marketing, for most companies it should only be one component part of a multi-faceted strategy. Every business has unique requirements, including budgets and target audience and need to be flexible as growth is achieved. Only in rare cases can social media be successful as the company’s sole marketing effort. Full Story Here:



 

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Google Plus For Business - Part 3 - How To Use Google Plus For Business

The power of Google alone makes having a Google Plus business page a worthwhile time and energy investment. In part two, we looked at some other compelling reasons. The features unique to the Google Plus platform can also work to your company’s advantage. Here are some ways to leverage Google Plus to the benefit of your business.

 

1 - Link Your Google Plus Posts

A great feature of Google Plus is that the platform gives you the ability to link your post’s URLs. By clicking the arrow in the upper right hand corner, you can link the post anywhere. By doing so you can drive traffic from your other platforms to your Google Plus page.

 

2 - Link Google Plus To Your Other Platforms

Google Plus allows you to customize your links and place them where they will be most effective, right alongside your stream. Just click the “Custom Links” button to the right and your followers will be able to easily go to any of your other platforms. Be sure to link your website, Facebook page and Twitter profile. Also place “G ” buttons on those platforms to bring followers to your Google Plus page.

 

3 - Classify Your Followers With Google Circles

The unique to Google Plus “Circles” feature provides one of the platforms decided advantages over other social networks. You have the ability to classify and organize your followers into their own groups or “Circles”. Having the capability to selectively target your marketing messages to specific segments of your base of followers is a powerful tool provided by Google Plus.

There are constant reports of the demise of Google Plus. This is not going to happen. The platform is growing at a tremendous rate, especially in recent months. With 343 million active users as of April 2013, Google Plus is a social network your business can’t afford to ignore.

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.

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Google Plus For Business - Part 2 - Why Your Business Should Be On Google Plus

Even though it might appear to outsiders that Google Plus may not be worth their time or effort, nothing could be further from the truth. Although Google Plus started off with early adopters such as “techies” and photographers, the public at large is beginning to catch on. The social network has 343 million active users as of April 2013, certainly not insignificant and still growing. As your customers sign on over time- eventually everyone with a Google account will automatically be on Google Plus - you can be learning valuable lessons about its usage and seeing some benefits already. If you are still not convinced here are a few compelling reasons to set up a Google Plus Page for Brands.

 

1 - Power Up Your Search Engine Results

Google is the single most powerful search engine site ever. They turned the word “Google” into verb. Google has virtually no competition and with the immense power and influence they wield, businesses with Google Plus Pages have seen a dramatic rise in their search engine exposure, leading to higher results listings.

 

2 - Google Circles

The Circles feature on Google provides a powerful tool for targeted marketing messaging. A business can place their customer contacts into one or more “Circles” after they have added the company. The business can then target certain segments of their customer base with a targeted message just for them. For example, a 20% off promotion just for the top customers. Individuals need to add a company to their Circles first, but then the company can place the individual in whatever Circles they want without the individual’s knowledge.

 

3 - Google Hangouts

Hangouts is the video chat function of Google Plus, where a chat can be held with up to 10 participants at a time. A business can host video chats for their customers to talk with experts in their industry, have question and answer sessions, or show off new products. Complete webinars can be created around this feature.

Now, when Google Plus is growing, but not crowded like other social networks, is the best time for a business to learn the ropes. Interact with other companies, whether in their industry or not, and learn from them. In time, Google Plus will have a membership to rival Facebook and Twitter, better for your company sooner rather than later. In the next part of this series, we will look at some techniques for using Google Plus for business.

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

Google Plus For Business - Part 2 - Why Your Business Should Be On Google Plus

Even though it might appear to outsiders that Google Plus may not be worth their time or effort, nothing could be further from the truth. Although Google Plus started off with early adopters such as “techies” and photographers, the public at large is beginning to catch on. The social network has 343 million active users as of April 2013, certainly not insignificant and still growing. As your customers sign on over time- eventually everyone with a Google account will automatically be on Google Plus - you can be learning valuable lessons about its usage and seeing some benefits already. If you are still not convinced here are a few compelling reasons to set up a Google Plus Page for Brands.

 

1 - Power Up Your Search Engine Results

Google is the single most powerful search engine site ever. They turned the word “Google” into verb. Google has virtually no competition and with the immense power and influence they wield, businesses with Google Plus Pages have seen a dramatic rise in their search engine exposure, leading to higher results listings.

 

2 - Google Circles

The Circles feature on Google provides a powerful tool for targeted marketing messaging. A business can place their customer contacts into one or more “Circles” after they have added the company. The business can then target certain segments of their customer base with a targeted message just for them. For example, a 20% off promotion just for the top customers. Individuals need to add a company to their Circles first, but then the company can place the individual in whatever Circles they want without the individual’s knowledge.

 

3 - Google Hangouts

Hangouts is the video chat function of Google Plus, where a chat can be held with up to 10 participants at a time. A business can host video chats for their customers to talk with experts in their industry, have question and answer sessions, or show off new products. Complete webinars can be created around this feature.

Now, when Google Plus is growing, but not crowded like other social networks, is the best time for a business to learn the ropes. Interact with other companies, whether in their industry or not, and learn from them. In time, Google Plus will have a membership to rival Facebook and Twitter, better for your company sooner rather than later. In the next part of this series, we will look at some techniques for using Google Plus for business.

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

Google Plus For Business - Part 1 - What Is Google Plus?

Google Plus, or Google as it is called, is basically Google’s social media answer to Facebook and Twitter. Google’s idea for Plus is to combine several services from sites that are popular with users already and improve on them. Google Plus can be broken down into these parts:

Google Circles -
Circles are friends or acquaintances that you group together based on topics such as Family, Friends, Roommates, School, College or Military Buddies etc. The different circles help determine who you want to share information with, allowing for more targeted postings. On the Circles page, contacts may be dropped into particular groups where they will only see information shared with the group or “Circle” you assigned them to.

Sparks -
Sparks are your various interests organized by topic into their own “Spark” page. The page acts as a gathering point for links to photos, videos and articles brought automatically to you based on the topic.

Hangouts -
Hangouts are “Circles” for video chatting with people within the particular group. Up to ten people at a time can be involved in the video chat.

Social Media News For The Week Of 5/3/13

Americans Addicted to Social Media

A survey released by the consumer and business credit reporting company, Experian, states that Americans are spending more of the online time on social media than anywhere else on the internet. According to the study, Americans are on social sites for 16 minutes of every hour spent on line. After social media is entertainment websites at 9 minutes per online hour and online shopping at 5 minutes. Americans also lead the world in social media usage, with users in the U.K. at 13 minutes and Australia at 14 minutes on average. Full Story Here:


How to recognize the risks social media pose to your company

As business use of social media has risen, some level of risk with this usage has become clearly apparent to most companies. The management of company reputation, potential release of confidential information, and the danger of employees speaking on behalf of the business are just a few of the risks encountered by companies on social media. The key to minimizing these, and any other risks, is for businesses to have a clearly developed social media strategy along with solid employee use policies. Full Story Here:


Social Media and Web 2.0: Tech that makes a Difference

The combination of social media networks and the technological advances of Web 2.0 are making a fundamentally positive influence on business at large. A report by the analytical firm, Gartner, found developments in these two areas have had a profound impact across all industries. This has brought about positive change to businesses of all sizes. Full Story Here:


Celent Survey Shows Social Media Increases Traction in Insurance Industry

Use of social media by the insurance industry has gained a strong footing in North America, according to a study by Celent and Locke Lord, LLP. The report found that 80 percent of insurers are currently using social media in their conduction of business. Of the 20 percent who are not, 45 percent plan on implementing social during the course of the next year. Full Story Here:

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