Six Clear Reasons why you should be using Social Media to build your Credibility

An Ad agency client asked me the other day to provide them the primary reason why their clients should use Social Media as part of their advertising mix. Specifically they were talking about Facebook, Twitter and Angieslist. The answer to this question is often confusing and misstated. This article provides six concise reasons why Social Media is so important today.  Reading this article will make it easy for the reader to see why Social Media has risen so quickly in advertising circles and it will help them prosper from using it.  Here are a few reasons why they should use Social Media as part of their marketing mix. 

Hector the Connectors Website Marketing Predictions for 2012

2011 is over, and we're now in 2012. Wouldn’t it be terrific if you could predict the future? How fantastic would it be to know what website marketing techniques will work this year? Would having that knowledge allow you to prepare and maximize your return on your advertising dollars? In this article, I provide my 2012 predictions covering website marketing trends. Adjusting your marketing plans to take these trends into account should translate into profits. Historically, my predictions have come to pass about 98 percent of the time. It's always gratifying when my predictions come true. I have always had a knack for spotting trends. In this article, I list four website marketing trends that are unfolding before our eyes. So read on to see my advice and get your website ready for 2012 and beyond.

Prediction #1)  Search Engine Optimization will continue to provide top ROI for internet marketing.

Image via CrunchBaseSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) and posting service will continue to be the most productive for converting internet prospects into customers. SEO has always been the bread and butter of online marketers and businesses. This is because search engine users place a high value on organic placement. I believe that SEO will continue to be rated as the most cost-effective means of attracting visitors to your website or landing page. For several years now, SEO has shown to be unmovable as the best way to get clicks to your website. This includes search clicks where somebody “actually” purchases something from your website. Several research studies in 2011 reported that more business traffic was generated by organic key word Searches than other types of internet marketing. Of course, you still have to have a compelling landing page and a desirable product, but this has always been the case.

Secondly, the aforementioned studies also listed organic ranking as being the most trusted by consumers with regard to the legitimacy of the ad listing. There is no doubt in my mind that this trend will continue in 2012. My advice to you is this; if you’re selling products on the internet, make SEO the centerpiece of your internet ad budget. If you want to make the phone ring, it starts with organic ranking. I’m not saying all your internet advertising money should be in SEO; that's unwise, but SEO should be part of your mix. Leaving it out would be a tremendous mistake.

Prediction #2)  Websites will be upgraded in unheard of numbers!

Image by Sean MacEntee via FlickrIt has been my experience that business owners, (especially small businesses) are usually slow to make website changes. For an internet business to be profitable today, it must embrace change as part of its everyday marketing strategy. Around the middle of 2010, many businesses started to update their websites. This trend started  for two extremely important reasons. First, many businesses have ignored their websites for several years, (5+ years in many cases).  Many businesses are cyclical, and the website creation industry is one of them. We are entering a time where many websites have been stuck with an early turn of the century look and feel. 

Now businesses are moving towards a more current and active content look. A look and feel I call current content centric.  Most businesses amortized website expenditures over a five-year period. If they are not amortized, they are still looked at as five-year  assets. My company saw a significant increase in the amount of website refresh work during 2005. We started seeing an increase in this type of work again in late 2010.  I believe businesses were holding back because of the slow economy but are now faced with websites that are not producing results. Most are moving to either totally recreate their websites look and feel, or they are opting to create multiple landing pages that address individual issues. I look forward to seeing businesses finally making the plunge to refresh, rebuild or create new landing pages that convert prospects into customers. My advice to all businesses is to refresh your website in 2012. Even if it’s just a color and wording refresh. If you choose to do-nothing, beware, your competition will be making these changes, and they will be taking your market share.

Prediction #3)  Internet usages will become more mobile than ever before.

Image via WikipediaThe number of websites converting to mobile formats is soaring. This is for a good reason. The number of smart phones capable of taking advantage of full browser functions is shooting through the roof.  Add to this, many smart phones have a faster internet connection than you have at home or in the office. Most people carry their cell phones with them all the time. This allows them to use their cell phones for all kinds of functions.  One of these functions, cell phone internet browsing, is growing at an alarming rate. Soon, cell phones will replace many of the current gadgets that many of us love to use today. Cameras, GPS devices, MP3 players, portable game consoles and yes even laptop sales will start to shrink. And as these items lose their inherent value, the smart phone will become invaluable. The number of internet cell phone users will continue to climb.  People use their cell phones to blog, access their social networks, get directions via GPS, listen to their music, purchase items online, make web searches, watch TV,   YouTube  and more. The list goes on and on. This list will continue to grow!

You’ve heard people say the phrase, “there’s an App for that." With more than 250,000 smart phone apps out there, smart phones will just continue to get smarter. As smart phones acquire more functions, our dependence on them will grow. In the year 2000, there were only 250 million internet users and about 500 million mobile subscribers. By the end of 2011, there were two billion internet users. It is also estimated that in, 2011, the number of cell phone subscribers reached more than 5 billion. When smart phones become the de-facto  type of cell phone, cellular internet users will far exceed the number of stationary internet users by a large margin. My advice should be a no brainier for any business. Make sure your website is mobile enable now and start taking advantage of this enormous untapped market. If you don’t heed this lesson now, you will regret it sooner than later.

Prediction #4)  YouTube will become a new power broker for small business marketing in 2012.

Today, the number one visited destination on the internet after Google's search is YouTube, (also owned by Google). Websites that have videos on YouTube receive an additional ranking consideration versus websites that don’t.  Many studies have shown that people prefer video’s over text by a large margin. Internet studies have shown that more people will click on a video before text or audio listings for the same information, even when text and audio are ranked higher. Other studies show that seventy percent of our population has a preference for pictures. The remaining 30 percent prefer either audio, touch or the written word.  The internet is full of Cinderella stories about startups that have made it big with internet video.

Image via CrunchBaseLarge companies usually don’t use videos to explain their product or service. They devote a full website for that product to explain it instead. The vast majority of YouTube videos are created by amateurs. This hasn’t stopped people from watching them. Again, YouTube garners a billion visits a day. Savvy companies are now running to create YouTube videos that are short, succinct and touting their wares.  Small businesses are creating YouTube videos in record numbers. This is helping them garner prospects and customer loyalty. My advice for any business is this; don’t be left behind. Start making useful, informative or funny YouTube videos about your products.  Most laptops and cell phones have built in video cameras. Good video cameras are relatively inexpensive! If you feel you’re not up to the video production task, hire a professional. They will be able to help you create your library of YouTube videos that show off your products or services. Not sure what to say or do in your videos? That’s OK. There are numerous internet professionals who can write, create, and produce an outstanding internet video for you. On top of that, video production costs are down by a factor of 10, compared to what it was just ten years ago. Mark my word, video is already a big deal, make it part of your strategy and win big too.

In this article, I have provided four website marketing trends that I believe are unfolding before our eyes.  In the past, I have used my predictions as part of my own marketing strategy. My accuracy over the last 30 years has been exceptionally high. I have sometimes missed the mark on the timeline, but I have rarely been wrong at predicting what will eventually take place. These four predictions should make sense to my readers. I have provided my reasoning and my research addressing why I believe these events will take place. I trust my research, and I trust my ability to spot trends. It is my uncanny ability to spot trend's before “they take off " that has undoubtedly paid off for me in the past. By taking advantage of these predictions and by adjusting your strategy, you will win more customers and beat your competition to the punch. Get some help to develop your marketing plan if you feel you need it. Put in place all the necessary elements needed to implement your strategy. If you do all these things, your website will produce profits like never before.

That’s my opinion; I look forward to hearing yours.

Hector Cisneros is a writer, has been an entrepreneur for more than 30 years, is a veteran of BNI for 19 years and was a BNI director for over five years. He is still an active BNI member and follows the philosophy of Givers Gain. He is the owner of several businesses in Jacksonville, Florida. He actively coaches business owners in the fine art of Online advertising, Business Networking and Word of Mouth marketing. He is the president of Website Know How, Inc. a holding company for his business ventures that include online advertising, word of mouth marketing, real estate holdings, non-profit training/support, book publishing, health and wellness product sales and Adventure sports. Hector's new book 60 Seconds to success, teaches business owners how to get the most from word of mouth marketing by using great 60 second introductions. To learn more about Hector Cisneros, Social Media, Online Marketing or Word of Mouth Marketing visit the Networkers Apprentice workshop http://networkersapprentice.com or my book website at http://www.60SecondsToSuccess.com

Four Principles That Use Leverage to Market Your Business and Produce Powerful Results

Image by juque via FlickrThere seems to be a huge cloud of mystery that surrounds the whole industry of social media marketing and Internet networking. I see business people flailing around with all manners of marketing techniques that are supposed to help them grow their networks. However, most people are attempting to "go it alone" without investing the time needed to learn the basic marketing principles that will provide them with success. In this article, we will focus on the principle of leverage. We will cover how it is used to make your work easier yet help you produce great results. By using leverage properly, you will receive results that exceed the sum of time, effort and money you invest. The dictionary says that leverage "produces a mechanical advantage". As a business owner, you want this advantage. It also defines leverage as, "The power to influence a person or situation to achieve a particular outcome." In essences, leverage is a means by which you can multiply your work and amplify your results. In marketing, we mean that leverage produces a result far beyond its intended run, even when the original advertising has ended.

I often hear business people say that they can't keep up with social networking because it is too time consuming. This is true, if you're not using leverage. It's very easy to get engrossed with social networking. You are busy inviting friends, answering post, uploading your latest information and posting your own messages and pictures. It is common to hear someone say, "I sat down at 8 o'clock, and before I knew it, it was 3 AM." It's no wonder that business people say that social networking consumes too much time. This article will provide you with useful marketing tools and techniques that will leverage your time, efforts and resources. These techniques may seem simple; however, they will save you many hours of work and increase the shelf life of your marketing message. Use these to develop your social network, get more leads, receive more referrals and grow your business.

Leverage Principle #1 Make it easier for people to find you.

If you use twitter, always use hash tags within your post to extend your reach. Hash tags make any word that is tagged searchable. By tagging specific words with hash tags, you make it easier for 200 million Twitter subscribers to read your message. Hash tags turn your words into key words. That's right, instead of it just being shown to your 283 followers; all 200 million Twitter followers can look it up by just typing in your key words.

An example could be where you tag the words ecology and green in your post that said something like "check out the newest #green technology, it helps the #ecology." The hash tags will turn the words ecology and green into key search words that can be found by millions of subscribers. No doubt sending a message to potentially 200 million subscribers is a great example of leverage. It's definitely would provide more leverage than sending the same message to just 283 people.

Leverage Principle #2 Regular posting raise your ranking.

YouTube videos and Tweets show up in Google's searches! They also have high organic ranking in many cases because they are often current and relevant to someone search. Most businesses today have a website. One of the biggest concerns of any businesses is that people won't be able to find their website. Their concern is that the Internet is so vast, that it will be lost in the crowd. I have heard customers say that their website is like a billboard in the desert. A good way to make sure people can find your website on the Internet is to leverage your social networks by having all of them linked to your primary online presence.

Image by thms.nl via FlickrAnything that is posted to Twitter using hash tags or YouTube is added to Google search mix. If you often post consistent messages to YouTube and Twitter, your post will start to show up on page one organically in Google and other search engines, (assuming the prospect types in your key words for their search). People like their information to be current, short and relevant. Tweet and videos are often current, short and relevant. Tweets are 140 characters or less in length, and most videos average five minutes or less. They also include many current events. If your prospects search key words match the key words in your short marketing message, (i.e. your tweet or video), your message will rise to the top of the search page listing. Google pays particular attention to key word matches being exact, current and relevant. It also places an emphasis on video since Google owns YouTube. It is no wonder that YouTube is the number one destination on the Internet today.

Leverage Principle #3 Back Links are like magic for ranking.

Creating "back links" to get exposure and to increase your organic search engine position is a powerful method that only requires an investment of time. A back link can be defined as any link on the Internet to leads back your website. Google places a high emphasis on back links. The total number of back links pointing to your website will have a big impact on your page placement.

Image by Frederick Md Publicity via FlickrEvery location on the web that contains your business name should list every primary URL you own and all your contact information. This will make it much easier for people to find you. It also increases the number of links pointing to your primary website. This includes Face Book, Twitter, LinkedIn, My Space,
Four Square, Google +, Merchant Circle, the Yellow Pages online, profile websites and literally hundreds of others not mentioned here. These links are a type of back link to your primary web address. Don't forget review sites. Review sites that list what people are saying about you, your company, your product or service also count. These can be extremely valuable, especially if your customers are providing you with recommendations and testimonials. Review sites can also hurt you if you're not taking care of your customers.

Link exchanges are the best-known type of back links. You can create lots of these types of links by participating in link exchanges. Contact like-minded companies and agree to exchange links with them. By participating in link exchanges, both businesses will benefit and improve their reach and search engine rankings.

Another type of back link is a URL link listed as part of a bio for an article that gets published on the Internet. This includes articles published on your blog or in article database like EzineArticles.com. Most article sites provide a place where readers can leave comments on the articles they have read along contact information for the person leaving the comments. This contact information usually includes your name, email address and a web address. These comment areas become back links to the URL you list on them. If you read lots of blogs and online articles, make sure you leave lots of comments and always include your website URL.

Leverage Principle #4 Make your Marketing material Go Viral

Use effective web links in all online marketing material. This includes Internet ads, banners, directory listings, articles, blog post and eBooks. By including links to your landing pages and website, you increase the chances that your marketing piece will go viral.

Image by The Next Web via Flickr

Make sure that the URL listed is a landing page designed to close business or capture prospects information. If the URL is just your home page, it will not have a big impact. If you don't provide a reason for the customer to leave their contact information, they just will move on to their next destination. Give them a reason, a gift so to speak for visiting. Your landing page will be ten times more valuable to you if it's more valuable to them. How much does it cost you to buy their cooperation? Is it a free white paper, eBook, discount coupon? Find out what will persuade them to provide you with their contact information, and you will really start to take advantage of your online presences.

A great way for your message to take on a life of its own is to produce a marketing piece that has lots of useful content in it. Give this item away as a gift. Make sure you include lots of back links to all your web URLs, especially landing pages. This will allow you to close more business and more capture leads. The item you give away could be a useful document, an educational video, audio recording, a white paper, a donation to their favorite charity or any item that is perceived as useful and valuable, etc.... It can even be a combination of things. Get your gift out to as many people as possible. If you make your content useful, entertaining, and easily copied, it will be passed around even more.

People want information that's entertaining, relevant to them and ultimately meaningful in some way. Your gift must have intrinsic value. Anytime, you provide a gift, make sure it is designed to allow others to re-gift to their friends. Doing so will ensure that it will be copied repeatedly. The pasting of your gift from friend to friend will create a viral message that can often produce a flood of new business. Viral marketing is a great tool for social networking. Just make sure your message doesn't look like any kind of scam. It must provide some form of value to your prospect. If your gift has no perceived value, it won't be passed on to others. If it looks feels or smells like a scam, it won't produce anything at all. It must provide a gift of knowledge, fun or other useful information. If it does, it will produce big results with little effort on your part.

There you have it, four principles that use leverage to market your business. This article has introduced you to four marketing principle that did not exist before the beginning of the 21 century. These leveraging techniques will make it easier to do business on the Internet and with your social networks. Use these techniques every day to minimize your work and time investment. Use them to amplify your message and use them to create marketing messages that acquire a life of their own. By doing so, you give up working late, and losing sleep. On the other hand, gain the profits and marketing results, you seek.

That's my opinion. I welcome yours.

Hector Cisneros has been an entrepreneur for 25 years, a veteran of BNI for 18 years and was a BNI director for over five years. He is still an active BNI member and follows the philosophy of Givers Gain. He is the owner of several businesses in Jacksonville, Florida. He actively coaches business owners in the fine art of Internet advertising, Networking and Word of Mouth marketing. He is the president of Website Know How, Inc. a holding company for his business ventures that include online advertising, word of mouth marketing, real estate holdings, health and wellness product sales and Adventure sports. He is also a partner in a new company called Successful Campaigns LLC. This company provides training and support for nonprofit organizations helping them with their marketing efforts, growth, retention and sustainability. To learn more about Social Media, Internet Advertising and Word of Mouth Marketing read my other article on the Networkers Apprentice workshop. To visit my companies website visit http://www.Websiteknowhow.com. To get a free preview or find out about my new book http://www.60secondstosuccess.com.