Facebook Contests - What To Avoid For Your Fan Page Promotions

How To Get Your Facebook Fan Page Shut Down – Run A Contest The Wrong Way

 Facebook Contests:

We have all seen them, win a diamond ring, post here and enter to win an all expense vacation, like and share this picture to get a free pair of sunglasses… First of all, how many people do you know have ever actually won a Facebook contest like that?  Did you know it is not possible for some companies to even be able to track user activity to win a contest like that?  Facebook does not have the metrics to even allow most interactive features, let alone being able to tell when they happened if they even fell within the contest timeline.  This is not all fun and games, and make no bones about it, Facebook WILL shut down your page.  It is your responsibility to read through the Facebook User License Agreement and know what is allowed for your Fan Page and what is not.  It will not matter how long your Fan Page has existed, how many Fans you have, or how big your corporate name, Facebook WILL shut you down for this offense when you are caught.  (Do not put it past your competition to turn you in, either!)

Facebook App Insights:

Facebook has several systems in place that users can alert them of these spam contests.  So if you are paying to sponsor an ad like this, you are essentially paying to get your Fan Page shut down.  Want to know how well any campaign is doing?  You can check it out in your Facebook Fan Page “App Insights” in the Facebook Developer App. 

Facebook Contest Laws:

Be sure you are also not breaking any local, state, or federal laws with your contest as well.  Prizes that exceed a certain dollar value may have to be bonded.  You may also fall into sweepstakes or lottery laws depending on what type of contest you are running.

Notifying Your Facebook Contest Winner:

How are you notifying the winner of your contest?  You are not allowed to notify the winner with only a status update on your Fan Page.  The safest way to do this is to use a third party application that handles your contest entries for you.  This way you can collect data from your fans, and you can then contact your winner by phone or email from their entry information. 

Be sure to double check Facebook’s Fan Page Guidelines and stay up to date on any changes they make to their User License Agreement or Terms of Service on how to handle your promotions.

 

Need help with your social media marketing promotions?  Feel free to contact Targeting Pro Marketing!


Mark and Christine Barber
Targeting Pro Marketing
Your Ticket To Virtual Freedom 
Virtual Assistant | Web/Graphic Designer | SEO | Drone Photographer | Social Media Expert
Phone: 352-553-8739
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eMail Marketing Campaigns - Valuable Tool In Your Sales Arsenal

eMail Marketing Campaign - Design, Implement, Initiate

Custom eMail Marketing eBlast Design and Developement

An eMail Marketing Campaign can prove vital to growing any business.  We often receive a lot of questions on where to start.  Let's face it, setting up an eMail Marketing Campaign can be a little intimidating - especially if you have never had any experience with starting one.

Custom Graphic Design Marketing Campaign

The first thing you want to establish is what your eMail Marketing Campaign will be for.  What is the purpose behind it?  To sell more products?  To sell more of your services?  To educate your customers about your products or services?  To showcase how your products or services are superior to your competition?  To drive more traffic to your website?  To nurture your leads to eventually make a purchase?  To nurture your current/past customers to turn them into new customers again?  ALL of these are great reasons to want to start an eMail Marketing Campaign, and having several types of emails you would like to focus on will be crucial to what direction you will take when you want to plan.

Newsletter eMail Marketing Campaign - eNewsletter

Planning is essential to know what it is you want to accomplish.  How much time can you allocate to building comprehensive and professional looking emails?  Granted we would all like to get our message across - but if you do not present your company with a professional face to the world, will they really give your email a second glance?  Think about how you feel about email in your own inbox and what you find valuable enough to open, let alone actually read.  This is the most essential part of your endeavor into email marketing!

Custom eMail Marketing Campaign Development

Next in the process is to determine your schedule and time allocation for each email produced.  If you or someone on your marketing team is proficient on design.  Typically each email marketing campaign program comes with it's own "what you see is what you get" editor - which can be utilized with basic computer knowledge.  If you or someone on the project team is proficient in HTML and graphic design you can really design a piece that will knock the socks off your readers!  If you do not have a graphic and web designer at your disposal, you may want to consider hiring a third party marketing consultant that can help you design an email template that you can reuse over and over again for future marketing (the biggest bang for your buck).  After determining how much time it will take you to create and design an email marketing piece and still take care of all of the other business tasks at hand, you can develop a release schedule for your publications.  Do you want to do a stringent bi-weekly regiment or something a little more flexible like a monthly publication or a monthly publication plus major holidays?  Lots of things to consider!

Custom Designed Holiday eMail Marketing Campaign

Staying out of the spam filter is inherently important - otherwise everything you have done before this point is for naught.  If your email is too "salesy" or "spammy" your readers will never even have the opportunity to see it in the inbox.  You must develop a good marketing plan for each and every email piece you publish.  This includes subject, from email, intro text, body content, graphics, links, alt tags and clear unsubscribe area.

Tracking and ROI are also important follow-up and feedback for your mailing pieces.  How many opens did it generate?  How many unique opens?  How many click-throughs?  How many unique click-throughs?  How many unsubscribes?  Does your website have the ability to track your web traffic?  Or better yet track the customer who receive your email, opened and clicked on it to see if they purchased a product or service from you?  What about those who didn't as a lost sale? 

Sales Event eBlast Marketing Campaign

Follow-up planning is also a key element.  Are you pulling up the report of click-throughs and landing pages?  Are you following up with customers who clicked on items in your email they were interested in by email or phone?  This is an easy way to turn a lost sale in a return on investment!

Custom Graphic Design Facebook Cover Photo

It is also good to be sure to reinforce your marketing efforts cross-platform.  Be sure to share your promotional email on Facebook, Twitter, your Blog, LinkedIn, YouTube and more - it will grow your efforts exponentially!  

Custom Holiday Graphic Design - Christmas Special

Sound overwhelming?  Need a little help?  Not to fear!  Targeting Pro Marketing is your one-stop marketing shop and can help guide you through your entire eMail Marketing Campaign to get you setup, on plan, on schedule, on target and earning money!

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Social Media Marketing - Emphasis on Quality

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is beginning to get more attention these days than say, seven years ago when we were first getting into it for business.  Now more and more companies are starting to see all the benefits social media marketing can give them, and what kind of exposure they can get in our now plugged-in world.  The problem that arises with this, is that there is no degree in social media marketing, there is no certificate, there is no training program one can go through to verify they have the knowledge, the skills and the understanding of how to do it properly.  So – how do you make an informed decision if there is no verification certificate?  The purpose of this article is to help guide you through the process on how to select the social media marketer that is right for you and your company, and how to spot red flags.

How To Choose A Professional Social Media Marketer

Social media marketing is a delicate balance of compelling graphics, valuable information/content, and modern trends you offer your friends, fans, followers and partners.  Does this mean you have to sacrifice quality?  (And we do emphasize QUALITY social media marketing!) Absolutely not.

It seems that every teenager or person living in their parents’ basement can claim to a “Social Media Expert” … but what does that mean, exactly?  You spend 30+ hours a week on Facebook?  You tweet 20 times a day?  What makes a social media marketer rather than a social media addict?  Quality content.  Anyone can make Facebook posts (heck even Grandma is doing it), anyone can use their smart phone to send out a tweet.  But what is the purpose behind it?  What does it mean?  What is it offering?  If you’re not giving your listeners something important – you’re just making digital sound waves.  And not the good kind. 

Sometimes social media marketing doesn’t get taken very seriously – if you are a social media marketer (ahem, check out Targeting Pro's SMM information here), you often get the “Oh so you just play around on the internet all day?”  After the dedicated professional side of us has to seriously refrain from doing bodily harm to that individual, we realize that this is simply due to a lack of understanding of the power social media marketing holds within a business plan.  There are many individuals out there who claim to be SMM’s but honestly, they do not take their marketing seriously nor do they perform it in a professional manner.

Question on social media posting quality: “ZOMG, Wud u want thsi 2 represint ur companee?” 

Not very impressive, is it?  In fact, poor social media marketing can be damaging to a company.  How would you feel if your name was misspelled in a post?  How would a partner feel if their name were misspelled in a promotional offer?  What about offering incorrect information on a sale item or give-away and having to honor it?  What about misrepresenting a product?  You lose credibility.  You lose customer trust – and that is a hard thing to build.  The world wide web, and especially social media, has made it easy for a dissatisfied customer to share their experience with the world, so great care should be taken into who you want being your “voice to the world” in social media.

Some things a company should consider when selecting a social media marketer to add to their team (either in house or contracted):

• Brand Awareness
• Event Promotions
• Sale Promotions
• Business purpose behind each action
• ROI (tracking) & Analytics

Some companies feel the cheapest form of social media marketing is the right price for them, and they may lack the time or ability to research their business options adequately for their needs.  Often times when the cheaper option is taken without investigation, there can be a a lot of negative impact that occurs when a poor SMM gets a company labeled in a poor public light.

Now try to put yourself in a customer’s shoes – how would you feel about a company that offered marketing material that had:

• Punctuation errors
• Spelling errors
• Grammatical errors
• Poor sentence structure
• Misspelled graphics
• Inconsistency, either with branding or sale promotion that offered something different after the link was clicked
• Using “I” when speaking as the company’s voice
• Linking to articles that display competitor advertising/links
• Lost sight of the purpose of being in touch with customers on a social media outlet
• Delayed responding to a question or comment posted on a social media outlet
• Did not respond at all to a question or comment posted on the company's social media outlet
• Flat out erased complaints on the company's social media outlet instead of dealing with them

Would you trust your hard earned money with a company that partook in the above marketing activities?  Would you not think they perhaps “didn’t have their stuff together” and would not be a good candidate for handling your purchases, processing your credit card, or may be unable to offer you the deal they promised?
 
We pride ourselves in being a social media marketing company.  It is a specialty niche in the marketing world that is constantly evolving and are addicted to it.  A social media marketer is always on, always learning and always a professional voice for their client.  There is no “We don’t know” in our vocabulary.  Targeting Pro Marketing is completely upfront with clients about our abilities and skill levels when it comes to meeting your needs, and if we are unable to assist your company directly we can certainly give a reference for a partner who can.

Want some tips on picking a great social media marketer?  Be sure to at least ask for the following items from your next candidates:

• Ask for references (happy customers should always be willing to refer a good marketer, talk to them, not just reference a review page that can be falsified)
• Ask for examples (request links to previous examples of work to show professionalism and tone in writing or graphic design)
• Ask for a proposal or business model (what are they going to do for you, exactly?)

These are what we would call a bare minimum requirement for any social media marketer you are looking to hire.  After all, a company should not think twice to request these three items from a web designer, graphic designer  or SEO expert, you should expect no less from a professional in the social media marketing field. (PS: We do all that, too!)

Contact Targeting Pro Marketing for your next marketing project.
Phone: 352-553-8739
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Facebook Zen - Don't Fight Facebook, Learn To Love It!

You heard that right - don’t fight Facebook – learn to love it! I understand a lot of people may be intimidated by social media, but it really is not anything to be afraid of. (I promise!)
Facebook is a great casual networking arena where you can interact with individuals, organizations, companies, like products, and partake in causes. In this dynamic interactive space, you can make many types of connections that not only enrich you the individual – but can also enrich you the professional, the business owner, the entrepreneur, the expert.

Just dive right in, I promise the water is deep and you won’t hurt yourself, go ahead and make an account (or you can have someone help set one up for you, like a Virtual Assistant). Once you have an account set up you can begin to familiarize yourself with it and get used to how Facebook functions. There are some great articles to help you get started with Facebook out there I highly suggest reviewing. One thing to note is your privacy, Facebook offers privacy settings but please be aware of your safety at all times and the kind of information you are sharing with others.

Considering it is hard for one to interact with themselves – your first step to take is to “find friends.” Trust me when I say this begins to get addictive! Start with family members, branch to close friends and then coworkers. This will give you an excellent foundation to building your Facebook network. You will be surprised at how many Facebook users you know that will help connect you with others or give you friend suggestions. Soon your connection network will branch out in every direction imaginable.

Now that you have a nice friend base, you can move on to what it is exactly you would like to DO with Facebook. This is where some people get a little fuzzy or things begin to blur. Is this a personal account? If you want to keep family and friends separate from business, I suggest creating an additional “professional Facebook account” – one that reflects your network of colleagues and associates, vendors and clients. Since this article is referencing Facebook for business, we are going to focus on how you can use this very easy social medium to your business advantage. Remember – if it is professional, keep it professional.

Photos are a lot of fun, and are a great thing to share about you, what you do, what you are involved in, what passions you have, what activities you partake in and a way to offer a piece of you with the world. They make great conversation starters, so don’t be afraid to post about the great things going on in your life!

Videos are another way to share yourself with others and can also offer a great marketing platform. Videos are highly indexed in the search engines, and when linked to other social media networks like YouTube, you have a great start at a viral video (and did I mention FREE?). (Don’t worry, “viral” isn’t a bad thing, it simply means that it spreads on the Internet because people enjoy sharing it by all networking and link sharing means, including Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, MySpace, etc.

Status updates – pretty straightforward. Update your friends on what you are doing, what is on your mind, a quote that inspired you, a link that interested you, etc. I would suggest trying to get these in once a day as a normal interval (which it is completely understandable if you are not able to do this) but no less than once a week. Having a stale account can sometimes be a bad reflection when a potential client comes looking for you. The great thing about Facebook is that once your business gets hopping and using social media to boost your search engine rankings begin to pan out, you can always ask a Virtual Assistant to help you maintain your social media websites on an as-needed basis.

Comments are a lot of fun, too – this is how you interact with your friends list. When you see your “feed” you will see posts, status updates, videos and photos of the people you know. You can place comments on these items to mingle with your peers. Let the real you shine through!

The “Like” button is also an easy tool to use when interacting with friends. If you don’t really have anything to add to the discussion you can simply “like” someone else’s activity. This is a great way to keep active even if you are running short on time, and lets your friends know you are still in touch with them.

Not to mention you can link your Facebook page to your Blog, Twitter and other networking websites to get all of those feeds spreading out from just a single source - that's online marketing efficiency!

Again, it is always a good idea to be mindful of your posts and comments – Facebook is indeed a public networking site, no matter how private you think your comments are. Keep everything professional and please also be mindful of your safety and do not offer information that is too personal.

See? Not so scary now is it? Go forth my friends – go forth and network the world! If you want a great place to get started, feel free to friend Targeting Pro, I look forward to networking with you!

“God bless the Geek, for they shall Internet the earth.”

Email: TargetingPro@gmail.com
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Stay tuned to the Targeting Pro blog for my upcoming articles that will delve deeper into each aspect of social media – we will be really getting into the meat and potatoes of what it takes to be top in your field. If you need assistance in setting up or maintaining your social media outlets, feel free to contact me to discuss if Virtual Assisting or Ghost Writing is right for you!

Technology - Are You Up To Speed?

We are in the heart of the Information Age, where innovation can take you to the top of your industry, where unique ideas are key and clever business plans can boost you above your competition. Business has become a challenging marketplace, and especially so for the hard economic times befalling the Real Estate market.

There is no “magic strategy” or “secrets to success” in this market - it is hard work, innovative ideas and putting the time into your business to reflect the revenue you want out of it. It really does not matter what other agents in your area are doing and what makes them successful - what matters is what makes you different in your field. What do you offer that other agents don’t? What services do you provide that other agents lack? What kind of guarantees do you offer for your services or products that bring comfort and security to your clients? Are you leveraging technology in your favor to get an edge on your competition?



Being successful in business is being able to take problems and turning them into opportunities. With technology rapidly changing, becoming more complex and niche out more focused markets, it is playing a vital part of business plans today. When you delay, you lose business. When you are the last on board with technologies that make your job more efficient either in the realms of money, time or procedure, you are lagging behind in the market. Working in the service industry we are in a world of increasing customer expectations and needs, if you are not able to satisfy these you are more than likely not going to be able to retain the clients and contacts that you manage to come across. Responding quickly to new products and services that better your customer experience can rocket you ahead in this hypercompetitive market.

Is your website up to speed? Do you currently partake in Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? Do you have dynamic contact forms? Do you partake in Social Media outlets? Do you have unique and completely custom content on your website that sets you apart from the standard template real estate agent of your competitive market? If not… you may be missing out on your slice of the market share.

“The amount of information available on the Internet more than doubles every year, and most of it is free.” - Business and Information Technology

What are you offering on the world wide web? Are you simply hoping that sticking property statistics on your website will bring a buyer? Are you offering information about your area? County? City? Subdivisions? Retirement Communities? Public Parks? National Parks? Recreation Areas? If you haven’t gotten into updating your website you’re behind your competition. Don’t have time for updating your website, your blog, or your Twitter account? Find someone who can. What are you doing to keep yourself ahead of the pack? What is even scarier to think about - what do you think your competition is doing?


One of the keys of success in any business is to leverage ingenuity and to enact on a future that is continually being built upon information technologies. Our world is constantly changing and if you do not have the ability or you flat out refuse to change with it - you will find yourself trying to live in a world that no longer exists. The “old school” way of performing real estate services is exactly where it should be - in the past. Are you stepping up to the plate of revolutionary change to perform better service than any other agent out there? To remain ignorant of today’s technologies is to put yourself behind the proverbial eight ball - don't be left behind. If you need help to get ahead, don't be afraid to ask for it!

Email: TargetingPro@gmail.com
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Quote from:
Business and Information Technology
Author: Efraim Turban, R. Kelly Rainer, Richard E. Potter
copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Are You Utilizing Your Website To Its Full Potential?

Your most powerful asset to your marketing strategy should be your website. It is your way to literally touch the world using the internet to a very wide client base. It is your face to your clients, your community and your associates. There are a few questions you have to ask yourself in your assessment of where you want to be with your brand and image:

Are you putting in the time and effort into not only making it the best website in the business but also keeping it that way?

Do you have skills it takes to create a comprehensive and attractive website?

Do you have the time to create unique content that your clients and associates will find valuable?

Do you have the time to stay in touch with your clients using social media outlets?



A lot of people find it hard to answer yes to all of these questions. The next very important step is to say “Okay - now what do I do about it?”

I have come across many people who badly want to bring their websites up to speed but have no idea to go about doing it. I like to think of a website as a home. There is a base cost to even have one (as in domain & hosting fees), there are maintenance fees (perhaps you pay for a website to host on your page from an outside source), you have to keep it clean & current every single day, there are fees for updating & upgrading & renovating, etc…

Now every homeowner will know, that if you do not have the ability to perform all of these tasks yourself, they hire a professional to take care of their investment. If you do not have time to clean, you hire a trusted housekeeper, if you have a broken pipe you hire a plumber, if your roof is leaking you hire a roofer, if you need a remodel or overhaul you hire a contractor. Specialists were created because we all cannot be perfect in all things - if websites & search engine optimization are not your strong points, if writing unique content has you with writer’s block and if social media is intimidating & confusing, it is perfectly logical to hire someone to assist you in these technical matters.

You specialize in what you do for a reason - to provide exceptional service to your clients. As your internet marketing specialist, I also offer to give you the same exceptional service for your website. You don’t have to be a writing expert or a social media whiz to provide valuable information to the world - you can keep on being your own professional and having your website support taken care of with confidence.



If you would like a website strategy plan particularly tailored to your business, needs, area & area of expertise, feel free to get in touch!

Email: TargetingPro@gmail.com
Blog: http://TargetingPro.blogspot.com/
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Why Do I Need A Virtual Assistant?

Every business has room for growth, no matter what the budget or economy holds. If you are not adapting to the changing market you will find yourself trying to survive in a world that no longer exists. All businesses benefit from intelligent and well-planned growth. Whether you need assistance for 1 hour, 1 week or several months – a Virtual Assistant is your on-hire help with no long-term obligation. Search Engine Optimization is another aspect every business website cannot be without. What does Search Engine Optimization (SEO) mean? It means that your website is geared up for the best possible search engine rankings with relevant content to help boost your placement. The more potential clients that see you, the more sales you will make.



If web design, graphic creation, html coding, linking, social media, Twitter, Facebook and blogging have your head spinning – allow a Virtual Assistant to help take the technical burden off of you so that you can get back to what you do best: Running your business. On-going web maintenance can sometimes be a hassle for individuals who are not familiar with the latest technology or have the bigger fish to fry on a daily basis. Signing on a Virtual Assistant to help maintain your website, content, SEO and even shadow writing for your blog can be priceless additions to your web presence. Effective website create online presence – make your reputation online as good as it is in the field!

Email: TargetingPro@gmail.com
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5 Simple Tasks To Boost Your Business in 2010

Gearing up for 2010 can be the best and also the scariest thing you can do - don't know where to begin? These five simple tips will help you on your way to kick-start your business!


1. Check Your Email Regularly – Your clients know we are living in a virtual world and responding to emails promptly has been as important as returning a phone call. If you do not have a mobile email service with your current phone company, check your emails often and respond to potential clients even if you have to research the information and get back to them later once you know the answer. Business does not wait!

2. Answer Your Phone With A Smile – Sounds simple, right? An old trick that works well to get you started is to hang a small mirror facing you where you receive most of your phone calls. Before you answer the phone – smile – the caller will hear it in your voice. Before you know it you will be trained to answer the phone like this all the time – a positive attitude can be priceless!

3. Focus On Accomplishing Tasks – Another simple one? It is so easy in today’s day and age to get distracted. Plain and simple – distractions take us away from our focus. Whether your task is to return all of your calls before 9am, to complete a load of laundry or to publish your blog post – remember this: You are only human and can only complete one task at a time. Even if you are a multitasker you will know that jumping from one subject to another causes you to break your concentration on what you are doing. Stay focused and complete one task (no matter how minor) before moving on to the next.

4. Set Goals – No matter how you want to do it, whether you want to write out a business plan for the year, post a white board, create a checklist or plug asks into your mobile calendar, set yourself up with reasonable goals. Achieving goals not only accomplishes work but it motivates us to take it to the next step. Break it down to small items that accomplish a large goal. Do you want more internet presence? Well then are you putting unique content on your website? Are you using search engine optimization strategies? Do you have a call to action on each page? Don’t overwhelm yourself with long-term goals, just break them down into more manageable ones and you will see your progress.

5. Social Media – You’ve heard it all over the web and you’ve watched it on the news – Social Media is the next big thing. NO it is not. IT IS THE BIGGEST THING. We are all becoming “plugged in” to the internet. We are finding our niches, our outlets, our interests, our coworkers and even our friends and family with the help of social media. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn help you stay connected to the things you value most. Don’t miss out, be out of the loop or find yourself sitting on the sidelines – Take the plunge and dive right in!

Let's face it - every business could use a booster shot. If you are finding yourself running short on time or it is taking you away from your clients, think about the possibilities of hiring a Virtual Assistant (or VA) to help with your tasks. Hire for as long as you like - no long term commitments!

Email: TargetingPro@gmail.com
Blog: http://TargetingPro.blogspot.com/
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The Importance Of Social Media In Business

Social Media - What can it do for your business?

Many of you may be asking yourselves “Why the sudden thrust in ‘social media’ all of a sudden?” Well – let’s face it, we are in an ever-changing and always advancing world. This is especially true in regards to technology. It reminds me of an old quote that reads “If you cannot adapt to a changing environment, you will find yourself trying to live in a world that no longer exists.”

In any profession, your social network is your life blood. You develop and maintain a strict code of ethics and standards to keep clients referring their friends and family to you. When someone needs work done – you are the first one they call, right?

Why wouldn’t this extend over into the virtual world we all know and love? Of course you have social networks such as church, professional associates, community, etc… Why wouldn’t you develop your presence the same way on the internet? When 81% of home purchases are done via the internet, imagine the business you would be missing out on in just one year!

Not that anyone has to necessarily convince you that social media is important – it is just a lot of people have trouble knowing where to start. Getting started with your social media may be the hardest and best thing you can possibly do for your business. Once you get the ball rolling – it can be a lot of fun and you will meet more interesting people than you ever thought you could, even in your local area!

I often get this question after mentioning social media as a marketing technique: “Well, I have a website, isn’t that enough?” Websites are not really included in the social media cloud – they are static information-providing pages (and often very formal). (In other words, they don’t change very much very often.) Website vs social media is very simple – its interactive and freshly updated.

Kick-start your social media marketing plan with Twitter.

Targeting Pro Marketing on Twitter

Where can you start that will be simple and easily managed? My first suggestion would be on Twitter. What is Twitter exactly? Well, in all honestly, it’s exactly as it sounds! Just as a bird would make a small twitter on a window sill, the same would be the usage idea of Twitter – just a small blurb of info you share with your online community. Also known as micro-blogging, they are text-based posts (also known as “tweets”) up to 140 characters. You may follow other Twitter users and will find their posts in your feed – and other users may follow you. Short and sweet and to the point – if you like that you will love Twitter! Check out my page and "Follow Targeting Pro on Twitter!" I can't wait to hear from you!

Formal social media & networking avenue - go for LinkedIn.

Targeting Pro Marketing on LinkedIn

Where can you begin with a strong professional presence? My suggestion to this focus would be on LinkedIn. It is a great professional networking outlet with other professionals and groups. If you like to build up referrals – you’ll really enjoy LinkedIn! You may also join groups with similar interests and learn the latest tricks of the trade. I'd love for you to be a part of my LinkedIn Network - please feel free to add me!

Blogging - your online journal to the world.

What is a blog exactly and how do you manage one? I personally love blogs (can’t you tell??). The name comes from a shortened version of “weblog.” It has also developed into a verb, as in “I’m going to go blog” or “She was blogging that.” A blog in its simplest form is basically an online journal. Now there are many different types of blogs. Mostly textual with added images and links, blogs have exploded into not only many different genres (personal diary, professional commentary, informative (how-to), news stories, local community, web-based community, sharing art, etc), they have also branched out into many different types of blogs – including but not limited to artblog, photoblog, sketchblog, vlog (video blogs), MP3blog (music) and audioblog (podcasting). There are many business-focused blogs out there to help you build your business with great ideas for postings and are easy to use. If you would like to start out small and free, I would suggest Blogger (big surprise, right?) or Wordpress as they are extremely easy to use and I enjoy Blogger as it links up to my Gmail account. So what do you blog about once you set one up? …Just about anything! Discuss your current activities, products, services, community news, business reviews, etc… Don’t have time to post the 2-3 recommended times per week? Feel free to contact me in regards to “ghost writing” for you (I write the articles, link them up and put them into your blog and you own the content). You can also share your blog content to your Twitter account and Facebook having a dynamic one-source inputting for all of your social media outlets – great stuff.

Casual contact & great sharing applications - dive into Facebook.

Targeting Pro Marketing on Facebook

Looking to have some fun while social networking? Okay I’ll admit it to everyone – I’m a Facebook addict! I love the program and the way it allows you to interact with your fellow Facebook contacts. It keeps things light and you can have your blog pull right into your Facebook account! You can even play simple flash games and take quizzes with your friends – all nice items to stimulate conversations. You can also share links and pictures. I love the photo album feature (which you can set privacy filters on to choose who you want to see them) as you no longer have to email huge amounts of pictures to all your friends and family – they can just get them from your Facebook account when they are posted! Another fun medium is MySpace – a lot of people already have accounts, you can just start gearing them towards business (or maintain two separate accounts, one strictly for business, the other keep personal). Another great element of Facebook (and one of my personal favorites on Facebook features is Fan Pages. You can literally create a "mini-website" that is interactive via the Facebook platform that your friends, family, clients and associates can "like" and share, making your Facebook Fan Page and all of it's wonderful content go viral. You can also tie in your blog to place your posts directly on your Fan Page and your profile can automatically update with your Twitter account. Not to mention the convenience of all the Facebook Mobile applications that make it even more accessible to the world. Information spreads quickly through social media - will your company be the next buzz?

Online community forums - just like your neighborhood.

Some people are familiar with internet forums. A forum is an internet-based discussion board. Very similar to what one could refer to as a “bulletin board.” These are becoming very popular as they are easy to setup an account and interact with one another. I have been participated personally in forums for over ten years and haven’t found one I didn’t like! Forums build a comforting sense of community, and the relationships I have developed on them have lasted over the said decade – bonds are created that strongly. If you can’t find a forum you particularly like – start your own. They are easily managed and maintained and if your friends or family are into forums it is easy to pick up board managers to help keep appropriate postings in check.

Like TV? You'll love sharing on YouTube.

Thinking of making some YouTube videos? I would recommend this for the more technologically advanced individual. Endeavoring in this usually takes some additional software and (most of the time) a decent video recorder. You can make any promotional video you want and embed it to your website, blog, Facebook, link to it on Twitter, share it, etc. Some people have had amazing success and great rankings with YouTube – just be aware it is very time consuming to put together quality videos. You can keep things simple with simple video casts, or do something elaborate as a product or company promotional video. You can make the video yourself, have your company make it, or hire a professional to help you with your video needs.

No info on where you are or what you do? Start a wiki & be the expert.

Another interesting aspect of social media is a wiki. What on earth is a wiki might you ask? You have heard of Wikipedia, right? In its own words, Wikipedia is a web-based collaborative encyclopedia. Wiki is a word for creating collaborative websites (from the Hawaiian word wiki meaning “quick”.) Anyone who knows me knows that I am a down to the roots gamer girl. I don’t know where I would be without my game wikis giving me information on what I need right at that moment. You can start wikis in your local area! Not everyone is endeavoring on these projects – they are big and need management but you will be innovative and up front as far as technology goes.

As you can see, different types of social media have all different types of indexing, formality and styles of interaction. I realize that not everyone was born with a USB port in their forearm like I was (yes, I’m that geeky - okay I really don't, but you still get the idea). You will find that you may like a particular one more than others, this is fine – you will soon find your niche and where you feel comfortable interacting online. The point is – doing something is better than doing nothing in regards to social media. Just be sure to stick with whatever endeavor you decide on – it is not like a website where there is a destination of sorts, social media is an open-ended invitation. Your social media is updated more often than your website and therefore gets better placement with search engine rankings. I did a large portion of SEO specializing on our home-based transport business, we were #1 in Google for our keywords – I started a Twitter account and updated it 1-10 times a day and in less than a month my professional-oriented Twitter account was ranked #3 in Google. That just goes to show you the power that a simple social media account can bring you when you put the effort in.

Social media - the price is right: FREE.

The best part about social media? The price. FREE! Unless you pay for upgraded accounts for Twitter, specialized Blogs or to hire someone to help you manage them, all of these high-powered, high-ranked sources of marketing don't cost you a thing! Now get out there and take advantage of all this free marketing! If you find you are running short on time to keep up with your social media outlets once the leads and contacts start coming in, you may want to consider hiring a Virtual Assistant that specializes in those areas to help keep up your appearances. No more roller coaster lead flow - stay on top of your game!

Feel free to include me in your Social Media networking - I look forward to keeping in touch with you!

Email: Info@TargetingPro.com
Homepage: www.TargetingPro.com
Blog: http://TargetingPro.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TargetingPro
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TargetingPro
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/TargetingPro

Stay tuned for my upcoming articles that will delve deeper into each aspect of social media – really getting into the meat and potatoes of what it takes to be top in your field. If you need assistance in setting up or maintaining your social media outlets, feel free to contact me to discuss if Virtual Assisting or Ghost Writing is right for you!