Continuing our discussion on giveaways on Facebook, we have more tips of things you may want to watch out for to avoid your Facebook Page being taken down.
Liking a Page or Checking In
You see this on a lot of smaller fan pages, but if you take note you will never see it on a larger one. Why? Because it’s against Facebook Terms and Conditions. Liking a Page or Checking into a Location cannot enter you into a promotion or giveaway. You also are not allowed to use the Like button as a means of voting. According to the terms, it is not considered a fair or reliable way to tally votes.
Using Facebook to Communicate
When you are informing an audience that you are running a promotion through Facebook, you can only communicate with them through Facebook. This means you can’t send them emails, give them phone calls, or even send them something in the mail. You MUST send them a message in some way shape or form through the Facebook system.
Moving on from Facebook we will be talking about YouTube in the next coming weeks. If you are new to video marketing, I highly suggest you check it out!
Many companies like to give away free items and discounts on Facebook for exchange of likes to increase their fan base. It’s no wonder they would; it’s a great way to encourage people to actually follow your company and maybe even get them hooked on your product or service.
But did you know that it’s actually a No-No with Facebook Terms and Conditions? Well if you didn’t, now you do! And you better make sure to follow them too or you might lose your profile completely.
Here are a few more points you might want to take note of as well:
You need written approval from Facebook
That’s right, unless you have been using an application box on your Fan Page, you MUST have written permission from Facebook before you can conduct a promotion or giveaway of any kind if it’s being administered on Facebook. This means that if you are actually running the giveaway on a blog or another website, but just advertising it on Facebook, you don’t need written approval.
Ineligibility
Facebook states that the following individuals are not eligible to enter promotions or giveaways:
Less than 18 years old, from a country embargoed by the USA, from Norway, Sweden, India or Belgium, can’t have a prize that is considered a dairy product, giveaways where you have to purchase a product or complete a lengthy task to enter.
Obviously, the Terms and Conditions are a bit more in depth than this, but it sure is a good start and some of the major points that should be taken into consideration.
Don’t forget that Facebook Terms and Conditions are always changing. This is one reason why consulting a specialist is always helpful. As a professional in this field, it’s our job to keep up to date on the most recent changes to help keep your page up and running.
What else you think you might be missing? Check back next week to find out.
When managing a company page on LinkedIn possibly, one of the most important resources is the recently built-in analytic system. Many companies have been offering this as a service for a fee, but times have changed. Now offered to its users free of charge, LinkedIn provides companies with the ability to see who, what, when, and where built right in. With the easy to read/see charts running a LinkedIn campaign has never been easier.
Page Views
Broken down on a monthly scale you can track page views, both on a specific level and on an individual as well. If your advertising on LinkedIn is working, this will tell you where and what content people are enjoying. If it is not, it also tells you what they are not enjoying. It also shows you how you may compare to similar companies.
Unique Visitors
Broken down in the similar monthly form as page views, you are able to see just how many of those views are by separate users. This tells you how many are revisits your page possibly has. Depending on the product/service you are marketing your wanted results will vary.
Clicks
This area shows you clicks based on the links on any given page, which ones are clicked the most and the least. This is helpful because it can tie into your website analytics which is a whole other monster all together.
Members following and member visits
This gives you great input, it allows you to see what number of your visits and followers are already members of LinkedIn. This will allow you to see if your advertising efforts are still best spent on LinkedIn alone or if it’s worth exploring other avenues as well.
LinkedIn in the end is just like any other social media outlet, it takes work and dedication to understand, watch and learn. It is also ever changing. No single marketing plan works for all companies, or even groups of companies. What it all boils down to, if you want your marketing to be successful, you need to seriously consider hiring a professional. Doing it on your own is great and works best for small start-ups, but eventually you have to make the financial leap if you want big numbers.
Twitter has taken the world by storm over the last year. It is a major part of our social lives where we can not only keep up-to-date with our friends and colleagues, but also get breaking news, celebrity gossip, dinner specials from our favorite eateries, and just about any other instant need-to-know information. More importantly, though, Twitter has become a major marketing resource for entrepreneurs and companies alike.
Getting Noticed
The number one way to get your product noticed on Twitter (without paying for promoted tweets) is the use of strong, relevant keywords. When mentioning what you have to offer, be clear and precise and choose your words wisely. Imagine that you are a potential customer looking for the product that you have to offer. What words would you use in your search? These are the keywords you need to include in your tweets.
Another great way to get noticed and to develop a larger following is to post information that other people will want to share with their own network. When your tweets are retweeted by others, you are exposed to all of their followers. This is the absolute definition of marketing with social networking. People turn their attention to their timeline several times a day to keep current on the latest happenings. If one of their colleagues posts something, they have instant access to it without having to search.
If you want immediate exposure, you can also use trending keywords in your tweets. While this does ensure that a vast number of people will read your post, you must keep in mind that unless those trending keywords are relevant to your topic, most people will probably just skip over your tweet. There is still a possibility that it will catch the eye of a potential customer; so, this method of keyword selection should not be omitted, it just should not be relied upon as heavily.
A Few Tips to Get Started
Mind the 140 character limit. Twitter does allow for longer tweets, but it forces the user to click a link to read the full post. Unless you have successfully captivated the potential customer, you will probably lose them at this point. You need to grab their attention in those first few words and compel them to click the link to your website or purchase page.
Don’t forget your own link. Unless you are just trying to build a Twitter following, you need to include a link to your website in your tweets. It does no good to “sell” them without giving them an option to actually buy your product.
Change it up. Keep in mind that even though you are hoping to reach the outer branches of your own social network, your posts are still being read by your followers all day, every day. Although you may only be selling one product, you can market it differently with each post and tweet. Let one post (or tweet) “breathe” before coming back to it again.
When using social networking to market your product, Twitter can be a very valuable and cost-effective (free) resource. Remember that the keywords you choose for each post will either make or break your tweet. Keep in mind though, if at first you don’t succeed, because of the wonderful low cost (free) of marketing on Twitter you always have the option to try, try again.
When you have a business website and are trying new ways to increase your Internet website traffic, blogging is a great way to get noticed.
Blogging is a good way to express your personal thoughts about various subjects that pertain to your business. You can write about how to market your business or how to increase the number of customers. You can also blog about why you started your business. Your readers’ comments are a good tactic to get ideas about what to change and/or what to write next. Show your readers that you are listening to what they have to say by responding to their comments.
It is vitally important to have a well-written blog. Always use proper grammar, and spell check your blog post before you post it. Using the proper SEO (search engine optimization) keywords will increase your ranking on the search engines and that will increase the amount of readers to your blog site. SEO keywords pop out at your readers in your blog, and it is always helpful to have hyperlinks, links and/or pictures to drive your readers to your website. These are good steps to take to boost website traffic.
When you promote your blogs with catchy titles on various social media networks, it will attract readers to your blog site. If your blog site is part of your website, your readers will be more inclined to visit the rest of your site.
Another way to boost website traffic is providing Internet marketing services offering to write blog posts for other businesses. It’s a terrific marketing tool for businesses that want to have blogs on their site but do not have the time to write. With blogging there are endless ways to boost your website traffic one blog post at a time.
If you are starting a new business, using social networking is a great way to boost your business. Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter are the best known social networks to advertise and market your business.
Majority of society are using social networking to influence potential clients to look at their business sites. When using social networks like Facebook, it’s best to make a Facebook profile page (personal page) and then make a Facebook Page (fan page). The Facebook Page is a page that promotes your business and you can see how many people “like” what you are offering. You can control it just like a regular Facebook profile page by making status updates, and friends will be added when they “like” your fan page. It’s the new “black” in keeping in touch with the people around the world. What’s great about Facebook pages is they are FREE versus paying for a Facebook Ad. Facebook ads are pages where you are charged a certain fee each time someone visits your site (pay per click). When starting out, this is the type of page you do not want to rush into. You might want to save your money for other important business matters that may come up in the future. However, it is a marketing strategy you want to consider once your business is up and running.
To start a Facebook Page, you must already have a Facebook account. Log in and go to the quick start guide for a step by step process to creating a Facebook page.
The other social networks like MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn are also easy to set up and you can design them based upon your business. Keep your personal life separate from your business. It’s advisable to have separate accounts for business and personal. You don’t want to be judged based upon your personal life. In addition, constantly check to see who is commenting and visiting your site. You will want to respond to some of the comments that are left on your page. Visitors like to know that you are paying attention to what they have to say.
Post a new stat about your business several times a day. A lot of people use the above-mentioned social networks; so, it’s a way of being a few steps ahead. You never know who might visit your site at the result of you regularly posting something new about your business.
Using social networking to boost your business is one of the most efficient ways to spread your business offerings to the world.
This is a video that I included in my newsletter for my subscribers. I give an overview of the content in the November edition, which focuses on social media marketing. Following is a transcript that I included with the video on YouTube.
Introduction
Hi Rita Cartwright here, with another month edition of our newsletter.
Social Media Marketing Facts
We begin this newsletter with some interesting facts on social media marketing.
Critical to Your Internet Marketing Strategy is Keyword Research
And following that is a video on the importance of keyword research to search engine optimization and to your internet marketing strategy.
Women Empowering Women – Is Networking Alive And Well In Internet Marketing For Women?
Following that is an article on women empowering women in the internet world. And this is done through joint ventures with each other and also through networking.
Social Media Marketing in 3 minutes
Next is a video on how critical social media is to your business. And also in this same video, you will learn the secret formula of how to become success online.
Using Social Media Boosts Website Promotion
Next is an article on how you can add your website links to social media sites in order to promote your website. These links are also known as backlinks or inbound links. They are simply links from somewhere else back to your website.
RJ’s Internet Marketing Services Video Trailer
Last but not least is a video trailer on our services and how our services can help you with your internet marketing. More information can be found at http://rjsinternetmarketing.com.
Instructions for Non-Subscribers on how to Subscribe to Newsletter
By the way, if you happen to be watching this video, and you are not a subscriber of our newsletters, scoot on over today to our website and sign up today. The sign up box is on the right-hand side of the screen. When you do sign up, you will receive a free copy of our e-book, “Online Marketing Tools for Today’s Small Business.” You will also receive a 5-part report on working with a virtual assistant.
Conclusion
As usual, thank you for your continued subscription. I hope that this information will be beneficial and useful for you in your social media marketing. Thank you.
This is a video trailer showcasing the benefits for entrepreneurs and small business owners of outsourcing their Internet marketing to virtual assistants who provide Internet marketing services.
In a recent survey I conducted, the respondents cited that lack of time and procrastination were two main reasons why they were not doing Internet marketing or completing the tasks. In my last blog post, I mentioned that 54% of entrepreneurs and SMBs (small and midsize businesses) are using Internet marketing to market their products and services. Therefore, if you are an entrepreneur, you can’t afford to put off your Internet marketing if you want to compete. If you don’t have time or you are procrastinating, outsource your Internet marketing to a Virtual Assistant who specializes in Internet marketing.
A Virtual Assistant can post your micro-ads to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. S/he can submit your articles to article banks. S/he can create your blog and post your blog posts, as well as keep up with the maintenance. A Virtual Assistant can create your website and maintain it. S/he can take care of your e-mail marketing campaigns. Imagine how much time you will have to focus on your business if you outsource these type of Internet marketing tasks.
Whatever the problem or situation may be, don’t put off your Internet marketing one more day. You can’t afford to.
If you are an entrepreneur or small to midsize business owner who is not using Internet marketing services to market your products and/or services, you are missing out on potential clients and customers.
According to a recent article in Marketwire, eight out of 10 consumers shop online at least once a week. As you know, if you are trying to get your sales message in front of your target market, you have to hang out where they are. Apparently, they are online; therefore, the best method to deliver your message is Internet marketing.
Social media marketing is a form of Internet marketing and is one of the most popular strategies to use. Wikipedia’s definition of social media marketing is “Social media marketing is a term that describes use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service.” Social bookmarking (Stumbleupon, Digg, Technorati, etc.) and social media sharing (YouTube, Flickr, etc.) are also included in social media marketing.
In a recent article Forbes.com stated, “Fifty-four percent of small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are using social media to promote their businesses, double the number using these sites in December 2009, with 35% posting daily updates to sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, a new study found.”
Other forms of Internet marketing are e-mail marketing campaigns, article marketing, teleseminars, webinars, and podcasting, to name a few.
As you can see based on the article on Forbes.com, your competition and colleagues are using Internet marketing services to inform their target market that their products and/or services exist. So, if you want to compete or capture some of the target market, include Internet marketing in your marketing plan.
Internet marketing costs little to no money; however, it is time-consuming. If Internet marketing services is not your service offerings, you should outsource this task to a Virtual Assistant who specializes in Internet marketing services. In turn, you will be able to focus on your services and/or products, as well as your clients.
Click here to schedule a fr^ee Social Media Marketing Solutions session.
This start-up guide will teach you how to start and operate a work at home online business. Upon completion, you will be ready to start up an Internet business. Click here to learn more!
A must-have e-book for entrepreneurs with a shoestring marketing budget. Click here to learn more about it. Pick up your copy today for only $3.98.
Continuing our discussion on giveaways on Facebook, we have more tips of things you may want to watch out for to avoid your Facebook Page being taken down.
RJ’s Internet Marketing Services
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