Month: February 2009

Social Media Marketing As A Web Site Marketing Strategy Will Improve Your Search Engine Optimization

Posted by admin – February 27, 2009

Gregory Burrus asked:


There have been many debates as to whether internet marketing services that use social networking and media sharing web sites to improve search engine optimization really work. Do they actually help your website gain improved search engine rankings? These all have been referred to by terms like social media, social media marketing, word of mouth marketing, buzz marketing and web 2.0. Social websites have become the latest craze on the internet and these terms have become the buzz words.

Social media websites and networking web sites offer the website owner a straightforward approach to bond with another community of people who have related points of views or interests like you. Some social networking websites group people with common interests, but some websites are “traditional networking sites” and allow you to search for friends based on your interests. So now how do these websites really operate. In websites like MySpace users share music which was what helped rocket MYspace into the well renown place it is today and in Facebook, users create their personal information that they want shared and use pictures, software programs and audio, videos to display or depict their business environment. In websites like Fastpitch, Joe Popular and Adlandpro the users create product and sale pitches and work with each other. Promotiing your website using these new tools is termed social media marketing.

How can you benefit and improve your search engine optimization ranking by using social media websites? When you use social media marketing and social networking , you have the opportunity to expose your website to a much larger group of people. When your site becomes popular in a social media site, people talk about your site and the post that becomes popular. This is a form of viral marketing that is word of mouth. The additional links means that as you grow these natural links from a large number of relevant websites, your rankings improve in the search engine due to increased organic search traffic.

Another advantage is that search engines programs that roam the web are keen on social media and networking websites and typically go after links on these websites. This means if you have your site link on social networking and bookmarking websites, your search engine optimization ranking is better and your website site will be indexed quickly. Getting bookmarked from different users and different social media websites will definitely help your site rank better on search engines.

Like it or not, social media websites have become an integral part of the internet because social marketing is easy to do, search engines love social links and hence your business by default will benefit. So if you are engaged in operating a website, and search engine optimization is important then you must realign your site to exploit the popular social media websites for increased traffic. To take advantage of this new method of building business you need to know what steps to perform? Well explore search engine optimization services. Also explore social media marketing and the difference to social networking websites.



Update me when site is updated

The Latest Educational Trend is Social Media

Posted by admin – February 26, 2009

Kristin Gabriel asked:


Social media networking and other new forms of online communication are the latest rage. What is it and how are today’s educators using this new tool?

The online technologies and practices used to share opinions, ideas, experiences, perspectives and insights with other people, social media is changing the way we learn, teach, and interact with other people worldwide. People everywhere are having conversations online. The world of education is included; parents, students, teachers and lawmakers. There is a new wave of influencers out there online, and it is powerful.

It all started to flourish around 2007 when social networks began to gain traction. Now memberships are in the hundreds of millions. For the latest trends authors like Paul Gillin began talking about these new influencers several years ago.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the activities involved in social media:

1) Websites need to be properly optimized - so people can find them via search engines.

2) RSS feeds, or Really Simple Syndication - people can now publish online.

3) Optimized article submissions linking back to your website.

4) Blogs and Vlogs - to share content and videos (e.g. YouTube or Google Video.

5) Webcasts/Podcasts/Videocasts - Another way to share information from a desktop.

6) Social networks (MySpace, Flicker, Stumble Upon, etc.)

7) Socializing web content (tagging and bookmarking) - it’s a library online.

8) Communities online - niche groups according to interests and topics.

Many businesses are already using social media finding these benefits:63 percent are using social media to build and promote their brand;61 percent are using social media to improve communication and collaboration; and 58 percent are using social media to increase the engagement of consumers.

The implications of social media are huge, and in education it is very big. Blogging is an enjoyable way to share information, learn from others and also to make professional acquaintances. Podcasts or videos can help others learn anytime and from anywhere.

Younger people have adapted very quickly to the concept of social media. MySpace is a huge congregation of sharing among kids. Now Twitter is catching on.

Anyone can use social media tactics for one of the following goals:

1) Conversation Mining. Research and mine consumers in vertical and horizontal networks and communities.

2) Invite influencers (customers/teachers/parents) into the circle to learn and share.

3) Choose the tools. Assign people to watch and listen to online conversations about education.

Social media tactics in education provide the ability for virtual classes. There’s a group at Second Life called ‘Real Life Education in Second Life.’ It is made up of people who are interested in the educational possibilities of the program. According to them, there are more than 400 universities and 4,500 educators participating in the Second Life Educators List (SLED). And this group is studying how to leverage the benefits of learning in a virtual world in order to assist the students of today.

Social media also allows students to interact across cultures, both directly and virtually. It also allows intercultural researchers to create new forms of study abroad via co-seminars helping to transform approaches to international education.

here are some social media networking sites for educators, networking and sharing information:

Education Futures - exploring the rise of innovative knowledge societies.

Twitter.com - a place where people can share in real time.

Facebook.com -(Sign up; review groups; use Friendster).

LinkedIn.com - ask “Questions” and “Answers” on Linked-In. Squidoo.com - a place to post and share topical information.

Gather.com - where you can post educational content

Skype - for instant messaging using audio/video.

Second City - for virtual teaching and conferences

Social media today is blending innovative technologies with social interaction, and the co-construction of new knowledge into popular social media outlets for online interaction that are centered around Web 2.0.



Update me when site is updated

Understanding SEO Competition and Your Goals

Posted by admin – February 21, 2009

SEO Sapien asked:


Website owners who keep up to date with SEO competition are finding out that if you are not learning and evolving you’re falling behind. It’s becoming more and more difficult for websites to maintain high rankings on search engines and that’s even if your site is already a few years old. If you are starting a new website it’s even more difficult to make your mark on a SEO. Expectations for new sites should be set up with the goal for long term results.

The most important factor in determining your website’s success is to know what you are looking for from your site. Most owners believe that rankings dictate a website’s success and while rankings are important they do not determine the overall success of the site. Owners should pay attention to the traffic they receive because that is going to factor into your business success and put money in your pocket. That’s why you have the site, correct? To make more money! Most website owners want to be in the top five of Google and Yahoo searches, when at the end of the day those rankings to not affect their bottom line.

This will not change the fact that rankings will continue to be a highly sought after commodity. Website owners need to think outside the box if they want to move up on SEO rankings. Owners have been expanding their keywords in hopes of attracting more surfers to their site. What they should be doing is figuring out what keywords people are using and incorporate those words and phrases onto their site.

At the end of the day websites are all about content, but what constitutes good content? In one word: Creativity. Your website is an extension of you, just like your business is. Use your voice and be unique with the content you decide to put on your website. This includes videos and pictures as well. Look at the resources you have and incorporate all the good things around you into your website. Do not steal or copy from other websites, it is superficial and that comes across to the visitors on your site. Make your content genuine. Do what you do best and speak from the heart. Make sure you write content for your site and not based on search engines. It’s a disservice and will not help your business or rankings.

The best advice one can give a website owner is: Do not compete with other websites! Continue to expand and evolve your own website and don’t saturate your brain with other people’s ideas. There is no right or wrong, what works for one does not work for another. Start with what you need to have on your site and work up from there.

You can pay all the money in the world to a SEO company and be number one on all the search engines, but did you really start a website to spend money or to make money?



Update me when site is updated

3 Most Wanted Tips For Effective Social Media Marketing

Posted by admin – February 20, 2009

Jonathan Mac asked:


Social media marketing is the very effective tool for marketing your products. There is no other alternative marketing strategy for social media marketing. Hence social media marketing is indispensable for any online business. Social media marketing needs a different approach when compared to the other online marketing strategies. For a social media marketing campaign to be successful, it is very much important to understand the tactics that work better. This article is all about the effective social media marketing tips.

1. Creating unique profiles in Social Networks

Social networking sites like myspace and facebook have great importance in business promotion. This part of social media marketing can get lots of traffic to your website along with building credibility among people worldwide. The social networks are now crowded with the online marketers and hence it is important to highlight your profile in the crowd. Though there are lots of customization options available in the social networking sites itself, it is always good to get some professional help for advanced customization. These social media marketing professionals will be able to provide you will very unique profiles which will get noticed by the social media crowd immediately.

2. Don’t try to sell anything in the Social Networks

Many social media marketers just advertise their products through their social media profiles. This is a wrong move. Social networks are for connecting to people and not for advertising the products, Hence your main motive in the social networks should be to connect to as many people as possible. The traffic to your website and the credibility to your services/ products will eventually increase as your networks grow.

3. Don’t leave any social media profiles unattended

Active participation is a basic necessity of any social media marketing campaign. Just creating some profiles in a handful of social media sites doesn’t do any good. You should post some content to the social media profiles frequently and make them look lively. Always remember the fact that Google crawls the profiles that are frequently updated. Moreover, the visitors of your profile will love to see many updates. You should also involve in activities like participating in polls, posting in forums, making comments and connecting with the people of similar interest.

Social Media marketing is a time consuming process and for the moment of truth it is really worth the time you spend. If you don’t have enough time for social media marketing in your tight schedule, there are professional social media marketers who are ready to help you. To the added advantage, these professional social media marketers can analyze your website and create the best marketing strategy. By paying them a nominal fee, you can just sit back and relax, watching your network grow along with the web traffic and business.



Update me when site is updated

The New Social Media Press Release

Posted by admin – February 18, 2009

P. Headrick asked:


As the communication landscape changes and new, cutting edge ways of consuming information emerge, PR agencies and corporate public relations teams around the world must re-think the way they format news and deliver it to their target audience. The social media press release has radically altered the way PR professionals approach broadcasts and announcements.

* What is a Social Media Press Release?

Inspired by Tom Foremski of the Silicon Valley Watcher, a social media press release is a next-generation press release optimized specifically for online distribution and publication, such as placement in blogs, social bookmarking sites, RSS, and other similar mediums.

The social media press release is designed to facilitate rapid and widespread sharing of news, information, images, audio, video, and other content. Unlike traditional press releases that are notoriously packed with hype and marketing-speak, the social media press release is far more functional, focusing on just the most relevant and pertinent facts, and relaying them in a simple, concise, hyperlinked format that will appeal to bloggers and other online journalists.

The typical social media press release includes a summary of key highlights, a few expert quotes, links to background information embedded throughout the text, and tags that identify related coverage and other similar topics of interest - all written in a style that reflects the way people speak about the subject at hand. As a result, it is much easier for bloggers to post the information, and for online journalists to conduct their research, and find the quotes, references, statistics, and other data they need to write thorough and accurate stories.

Many social media press releases also include images, video, and other visually-oriented content, tying together various multimedia elements in a way that makes them easily adaptable and re-usable.

* Fast and Wide Distribution

Social media press releases provide faster distribution and wider broadcast coverage than old-school public relations channels can. A recent Pew Research report shows that the public is more Web savvy than ever before, and that Internet use has become a part of the typical consumer’s daily routine.

In fact, more than 50 percent of consumers polled indicated that they create and share content online. With the social media press release, companies are empowered to take their message directly to these consumers via the most popular and preferred formats, making it readily available and instantly accessible not just to reporters, but to anyone who is interested.

Social media press releases can also act as direct marketing and search engine optimization vehicles. News headlines can be delivered via RSS ads, so they are dynamically pushed directly to those who subscribe to similar topics. And, the inclusion of popular key words and phrases (particularly those that potential customers are likely to utilize when searching for the company’s products or services), as well as commonly-used jargon and acronyms, title tags, ticker symbols, and links to other Web content such as blogs and related articles, can give a boost to a company’s ranking in Google, Yahoo, and other major search engines.

* Social Media is Here To Stay

Most of the major wire services have recognized the importance of social media in today’s PR strategies, and have begun to expand their offerings accordingly. PRWeb and Pheedo provide RSS ads, track-back functionality, and the ability to tag and send out press releases via del.icio.us.

Additionally, PR Newswire and Business Wire have launched new social media features such as RSS Feeds. These services also now allow bloggers to access capabilities and functions within their sites that were previously only available to credentialed journalists.

* Social Media Press Release Template

Several PR firms adjust their tactics to take full advantage of the Internet for PR. You’ll notice more social media press releases from a number of Internet savvy PR firms and companies. An online search for “social media press release template” will lead you to examples, templates and ongoing blog conversations on the pros and cons of this next generation of press releases.

You’ll find that by following a social media press release template you can easily create compelling, highly-effective press releases structure specifically for distribution to media outlets and for obtaining comprehensive coverage.



Update me when site is updated

Social Media Marketing- the Top 10 Mistakes People Will Make in Social Media in 2009

Posted by admin – February 17, 2009

Douglas Firebaugh asked:


Here we go again!\

Another year and another great possibility! With the election of Obama to the presidency, there is Hope and all are looking for a great future.

But I am sitting here thinking of all the folks in social Media that are going to be frustrated again in their social Media marketing efforts. wondering why they are not getting the traction or friends that they thought they should. And the main reason is that they continue to make the same mistakes in Social Media as last year.

Are YOU going to do that- I sure hope not. You may not have the power of a Robert Scoble, or the personality of a Gary Vanyerchuck, or the mind of a Chris Brogan, or the networking focus of a Mari Smith or Coach Deb micek. Or even the amazing writing talent of a Scott Monty.

At least not yet.

But you CAN accelerate your Social Media Success this year by avoiding these top 10 mistakes made by people in Social media in 2009.

Ok…what are they?

1) Lack of Consistent Visibility.

You cannot make a path and create a presence in Social Media, without CONSISTENTLY being SEEN and HEARD with your message. Ask Carrie Wilkerson. Or Timothy Carter. NOT going to happen. That is why that you MSUT create a Presence on the web DAILY- and be seen and heard as part of the community. A tree does not grow part time. It must be consistent in it’s efforts. It is the saem with your Social Media marketing.

2) Focusing too much on being heard.

LISTEN first- THEN talk. Social Media is about Listening to what is being said- by your prospects and customers- and social media in general. You would never enter a party or social event and immediately start yelling out what you wanted to talk about.

Neither should you in Social Media. LISTEN and then LEARN- and then Let your voice be heard- ONLY as a part of the existing conversation. Your time to start the conversation will come.

3) Taking, instead of GIVING to the Social Media Community.

Ahhhhh- lots of takers out in the Web 2,0 world. But NOT YOU. GIVE first. Give Value. Give Suggestions. Give Advice. Give ideas. Give Encouragement. Give News. Give New Possibilities. Give Words of Gratitude. But do NOT take relentlessly. You will be shunned and labeled as such.

If you REALLY want to create powerful influence- GIVE. How does that work?

GIVE = Gain Influence Very Easily. Give FIRST - and you will never come in Second.

4) Not Joining groups.

Groups are where you can have some of the greatest growth and learning. I belong to a ton of groups. Why? Because of 2 reasons: 1) I learn a lot from other people. 2) I CONNECT with the folks in the group.

Groups are a “secret weapon” that you should use on as many social sites as you can. They will not only Enlarge you- but also the possibilities that the group can bring to your life.

5) Not attending Events.

Events ROCK. And you should be attending at leat 1 event a week to do 2 things: 1) Become more Visible. 2) To learn from people that know things you do not.

Events are what i call the “Hidden University” of social Media. You can learn a LOT and grow a lot from events.

Look at the events that interest you. And pick on event that mildly interests you. And see if you can learn something even from that event. I have an event journal. and every event that i attend- i keep a log of what was said so i can review it later. You may want to do the same.

6) Not enough VALUE in what they are doing.

Value RULES in Social Media. And we train on what we call “Surprising Value.” This is the type of Value that is so great and unexpected that it surprises the person that discovers it. Put More Value in your POSTS. Put more Value in your PODCASTS. Put more Value in your Conversations. Put more Value in your Articles. Put More Value in your Recommendations. Put More Value in YOU and what you bring to the Social Media table.

Value RULES. And the one with the MOST value at the end of the day- reigns.

7) Joining Too Many Social Media sites.

There are about 3,600 Social Media sites. You need maybe 5-7. You read that right. You need 5-7 PRIMARY Social Sites. Then you need maybe 25-30, or even 50 Secondary sites for Link Building and traffic purposes. The main sites that you should be a part of- is up to you. My ‘Big 7″ are facebook, twitter, youtube, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, Plaxo, and Wordpress- along with mashable. These are the CORE of my Social Media Marketing.

Do I belong to more? Heavens yes- a LOT more’ but have automated those through ping.fm and other social software.

Do NOT try and be seen on a hundred sites. Facebook alone can keep you busy with over 200 million people. The same with myspace, or friendster. Master ONE site while mastering social media and then another, and then another, until you have YOUR “Big 7.” And then automate the rest.

8) Focusing too much on Monetizing Social Media.

Nothing wrong with monetization on the internet. We do it a LOT- and daily. But focusing too much on that in social media- is , well…not cool. People do not mind knowing about an offer, or new info product. But how about giving some VALUE first with it- then invite them to an event- and then at the end of the conference call or webinar-give them a chance to purchase your produst.

What do I see daily? Urls and messages SELLING SELLING SELLING! Whew- wish that would not happen so blatantly. It has gotten better, but if you have a great content rich info product- here is a novel idea: GIVE part of the info away FIRST’and let the person ASK you for the product if they like it.

Hmmm….that just might be an idea worth considering.

9) Thinking that You are Nobody and Social Media Success is for other people.

Ask Chris Brogan. Ask Scott Monty. Ask Alejandro Reyes. Ask Brian Solis. Ask Dave Taylor. Ask Shama Hyder. EVRYONE has a great possibility to becoming SOMEBODY in Social Media. THAT is the beauty of the culture. Everyone who contributes Value and Connection- is more than welcome to achieve whatever they want. Chris Brogan once had 10 readers of his blog. Now he has almost 40,000 people following him on twitter alone. Brian Clark of copyblogger fame once had 10 readers. So did Scoble. So did Monty. So did Shama. And the list is endless.

There is GREATNESS inside of you-and there is NO BETTER place than Social Media to unleash it upon the world. You ARE Somebody- and always have been. YOU are a Social Media Rockstar- in training!

10) Not Branding Yourself Strong Enough.

Branding is a tool that we all use in Social Media. It is WHO YOU ARE- and what people remember about you. It could be a phrase-”Just Do It (TM)”- or a slogan- “”We’ve Got You Covered.” Or even a questions- “Can You Hear me Now?” or just a Name-”Trump.”

You need to get a slogan or phrase that you can start wrapping in your messages. You need to get an image that speaks what you want the public to see and know. And you need to decide -what is the ONE THING I want people to think of FIRST- when they think of me and my company? THAT is the start of a good brand build. Do not be just another face in the web 2.0 world. Set yourself apart and above the fray with a brand that rocks. We teach what is called “Connection Branding” and we have saying:

“Do NOT just be known or remembered- become UNFORGETTABLE.” ™

THAT is what you need to do!

These are the top 10 mistakes people will make in Social Media in 2009. Yes, i Know there are others- but these are the ones that i see as the most prevalent in Social Media marketing.

blessings..doug firebaugh



Update me when site is updated

Get the Power With Social Media Optimization

Posted by admin – February 15, 2009

Steve Waganer asked:


One of the most recent and highly used newer techniques is social media optimization. Social media optimization is similar to all the other optimization techniques that are used for the promotion of online web sites. Nevertheless, like all the other techniques, social media optimization also has its individuality and there are certain unique principles that need to be followed while adopting to social media optimization for the optimization of a web site in World Wide Web.

There are various processes that need to be included when a web site has to be socially optimized. Basically, social media optimization helps to increase the linkabilty of the site. This is in fact, the main purpose for doing social media optimization for any online web site. Moreover, it should be made sure that the look and the feel of the web site for which social media optimization is being done, is constantly changed so that every time the site gives a fresh feeling to the visitors. This is also a necessity because nobody likes to see the same old graphics and read the same old content. Therefore, changes in the website help to get more visitors and at the same time help the business to earn revenue. Therefore, the content and the other materials used in the site should be highly attractive and attention grabbing.

The principle that works behind social media optimization is to mainly draw traffic to the site. Drawing a good amount of traffic is in fact, one of the best ways to get the site popular among various social media platforms and search engines like Google, Yahoo etc. The thing that mainly needs to be done is to write good articles and then get them circulated in the various social media platforms so that people can read them and come to visit the site. This not only helps in getting good traffic for the website but also helps in getting popular among internet users and various social media platforms. Once the content in the form of articles are floated among the various social media platforms, social media optimizers get hold of them and use them to optimize the site, which further helps in the promotion of that particular website.

After search engine optimization, social media optimization has become one of the most used techniques for the online promotion of a website. Social media optimization is a relatively newer concept but it is gaining a lot of impetus in the market as more and more optimization firms are using this concept to optimize the website of their clients. In fact, social media optimization proves to be a good option for drawing good traffic to a site and at the same time popularizing it in the social media platform.



Update me when site is updated

Advertising – and Its Association to Other Concepts

Posted by admin – February 13, 2009

Jyotsna asked:


Advertising – and its association to other concepts

Introduction:

An advertisement as an object and an advertising as a process has lots of contents and players to bring that concept. As an object it is the Ad designer or the agent who has the role to play, while as a process it is the beholder who has the responsibility to accomplish the objective. In between these two there are other players also to play their separate roles. While the whole issue is to manage and explore the benefits, the role of advertising, being used as a marketing tool can’t be ignored. This is an attempt to define what an advertisement is, and how it is related to other objectives.

Definition

Advertising is a process to communicate the desired message of the producer to the customers. In other words it is the process by which the message is being passed to the consumers by proper means of communication. In a well versed form it is one of the marketing mix to promote goods, services, companies and ideas through an identified sponsor. One of the 4P’s of marketing is the promotion strategy. Advertising being a part of promotional mix helps a lot to the marketers to promote their products.

Elements of advertising Process

There are different elements of advertising. Their relevancy depends upon the demand of a particular situation and so can easily move in the priority list to fulfill the need of the situation. As enlisted and shown in the figure depicted above “an advertisement as a product has several elements to be judged (in the process starting from concept to reality) to come as a product to meet the objective of the company”.

The importance of advertising depends upon various factors such as nature of the product, Industry to which it belongs, competition in the market, market intensity, stage of the product or the brand in its life cycle, effect on per capita consumption, customer loyalty, brand credibility and media.

Advertising is a component of marketing mix has a lot to do in the market to meet an objective of the beholder. Being a communication process to put the information about the intended “idea or thought” to the target audience or defined customers in a manner to satisfy the intended need is not an easy task. In a very subjective way it is all to bring the concept into reality to work and meet the intended need. Through advertisement, the beholder tries to put their information into the market for their ready acceptance. The intensity of competition has led a lot of pressure on promoters and advertisers to make a creative, responding and effective advertisement.

The need of the market has created a different role for advertising to play in the area of marketing. For a well established product or brand, advertisement has to just communicate its relevance by transferring the information to the market. But, for a product or an idea which is either in an initiation stage or just to move, advertising has a lot to do in the market for that product. Nature of the product and its stage in its life cycle is also a great determinant of advertising, to be designed and to get figured in the market.

Four P’s of marketing and advertising

Product and Advertisement: There are three kinds of products shown in an advertisement. They are General Products, Esteemed or logical products and Competitive Products. To advertise a general product information used in an ad is all the benefits of the product and its appeal to the target audience. For logical products the information to be conveyed through the advertisement is the need or satisfaction level to which the product is designed. For competitive product the comparative appeal is used in an advertisement to promote the product.

Place and Advertisement: To convey information through advertisement place strategy covers culture, age, gender, emotion, demography, geography, society, class of people, Income class to be shown in the advertisement and through that to target the desired audience. By this an advertisement helps to promote the product and to reach the targeted audience.

Price and Advertisement: In an advertisement pricing strategy usually designed to convey the comparative benefits and price structure with the competitive products and to target the desired customers to meet the objective.

Promotion and Advertisement: An advertisement is usually defined as a promotion strategy to promote the intended idea and meet objective. When all the other 3 Ps gets compiled in an advertisement it is the advertisement (a part of the promotional mix) which has to serve the intended need.

Advertising budget and cost

There are different categories of advertising media to be used for advertisement. A company has to go through a thorough search of different available options, budget for advertisement, mass effect of the media and analysis of cost and benefit of the available media to meet the objective. The choice of the option depends upon available options, different objectives subject to the restriction of resources to be used. For example to meet the objective in terms of its effectiveness television advertising is used, for others such as for great branding and reach a large audience magazines are used, while to assist in cornering the market mail order and leaflets are used. By advertising one’s business with internet marketing strategies one can save on his advertising budget and one can run his advertising budget into arrears if he starts up his internet marketing with the wrong advertising company. To opt certain media one has to thoroughly evaluate the objectives, resource constraints, target reach, accessibility and per capita effect.

There are different types of advertising. It covers Television, Newspaper, Magazine, Mailorder, Banners, Cost per click, Google SEO, Weblinx etc. While their effect is respectively, mass effect, budgetary effect, cost justification effect , an easy lead access effect, brand development effect, easy access and lesser cost effect, website promotion effect and in budget advertising effect. The criterion to select an option to advertise is restricted with the purpose, the obligation, the resource constraints and the earlier outcomes of those options.

All the efforts for advertising are to put the information in the market and get the desired objective fulfilled. Though the definition is very subjective the outcomes are a mix of qualitative and quantitative one. Examples of subjective outcome is supporting the branding process, place the informations at the right place, stimulating intention and motivation to buy etc while the measurable outcome is sales growth, increase in per capita consumption etc. The measurement of an outcome of a selected option becomes a base for evaluating the decision of the company or the organization moved up with that decision. While the same outcome, becomes an evaluating parameter for others to use, as to evaluate that available option.

An ad campaign has different issues to meet the target. Its content covers, message, appeal, slogan, words, celebrities, media, kind of satisfaction etc. An ad is a complete justification of the need and the requirement. Though the justification has several grounds to get a trade off among different available options, the need to serve and manage that trade off cant be ignored. It is the resource capacity, which ultimately talks about the whole of the advertisement. The other factors which affects the decision is available options and the need.

Advertisement has an important role in marketing to meet the objective of the beholder. For an organization or the beholder for whom it is designed, for the ad designer, for the sponsors, and for the customers as a whole advertising has different meaning. For the sponsor it is the communication, for the beholder it is the objective, for a customer it the rationale to decide. To serve different needs of the society it is designed and used differently. The significance of advertising cant be ignored as it is the mean to communicate and get the desired result. As a mean to inform and to add to the credibility the strategy behind designing an advertisement and its content, there is a lot of factors to be judged and to comply with. Being an effective marketing tool advertisement is used to meet several needs and hence to fill the gap in the market.

Advertising : Different players their association and role :

Manufacturer/Initiator

1. What?

2. How?

3. Where?

4. To Whom?

5. By Whom?

6. How much?

Ad designer/ Ad agencies

1. What?

2. How?

3. By whom?

4. Where?

Sponsor

1. Where?

2. To whom?

3. When?

4. How?

Customers

1. What?

2. How?

3. Who?

Evaluator

1. Shift in per capita consumption

There are five main players playing with an ad concept to come as a product. They are manufacturer, Ad designer, Sponsor, Customers and the Evaluator. These different persons have different roles in formulating the purpose. As shown in the above picture they are concerned with different parts as to play in this process. Though the start and end point is not restricted but it all depends upon the requirement and available options. To enrich their role they have different role criteria either to be put to initiate the concept or to evaluate the same on different grounds, in an advertisement process, as shown in the below mentioned diagram. The terminology and the contents that have been used to define the roles of each head have the effect of their responsibility, the stage where they have to play or contribute and their part in the whole communication process to lead the concept of advertisement into reality.

After fulfilling the initial criteria these all have to stick towards different parts of their role within a predefined set to bring advertisement concept to work. The role of these players and the requirement of their role gets judged with the whole issues as defined in the below mentioned figure.

Ad designer/ Ad agencies

1.Message

2.Content

3.Language

4.Media

5.Target audience

6.Slogan

7.Methods

8.Brand association

9.Customer loyalty

10.Brand acceptance

Manufacturer/Initiator

1.Product/Idea

2.Concept

3.Budget

4.Segments

5.Gender

6.Value addition

7.Associated benefits

8.Celebrities

9.Media

10.Language

Sponsor

1.Budget

2.Cost/benefits

3.Media

4.Timimng

5.Target audience

6.Brand loyalty

Customers

1.Brand value

2.Valueaddition

3.Offerings

4.Ad association

5.Need satisfaction

6.Ad message

7. Earlier experience.

Evaluator

1.increase in per capita consumption

2.Customer acceptance

3.Market credibility

Advertising: Evaluation

Now about the product or the theme which get informed through the advertisement has to take the market acceptance. If the requirement of all meets properly the intention of the message gets served with proper acceptance in the market. Being a challenging and required issue of the market all parts of the process have to meet effectively. Based upon the results in terms of sales growth, market acceptance, and credibility as desired initially the advertisement also required to be evaluated in terms of its effectiveness. There are different methods of evaluating advertisement effectiveness. Few of them are rating point (rp) and target rating point (trp). It tries to show the percentage of the universe of the existing base of users/customers that can be reached by the use of each media outlet in a particular moment of time. The difference in these methods is because of the size of the sample and their dimensions. Hence we can put that these methods could be used to make an advertisement to fulfill the segmentation strategy with the more refined method i.e. trp.

To sum up

Advertising has a critical role in marketing. It helps in promoting the product, improves sales growth, puts the information into the market, effects people to initiate the action. Apart from its role for a beholder for whom it is designed it has a great contribution in generating a sector with employment opportunity and by that creating its contribution to the society. The affect, credibility, and the requirement all could be easily measured by its current role in the market and the economy. From both as a need and as a competitive requirement, advertising serves a lot in the market. Being an important marketing tool it servers the need of all the players and by that proves its credibility to contribute towards the needs and objective.



Update me when site is updated

Social Media Optimization: Promote Your Business in an Easy Way

Posted by admin – February 12, 2009

Steve Waganer asked:


Social media optimization is a new breakthrough in the world of internet. It has actually come into existence and people are using it to enhance their business. It is a fact that social media sites have got a great popularity in a short span of time. It is being used as a new opportunity by all search engine optimization experts. Social media optimization is based on technology of Web 2.0. It is a very interesting and interactive mode of dispersing some information to others. Social media sites are all about real people getting connected with other people in several parts of the world. Social media optimization is helpful in churning out the knowledge from one place to another and from one person to another.

Social media optimization makes use of social media sites to popularize a product, service, an organization or any concept. Social media sites provide various advantages and facilities for maximizing promotion of a product. Most of the search engine optimization professionals have started using the services of social media optimization. Social media optimization involves the use of blogging, submitting in wikis and other information sites and also utilizes the vertical specific forums to spread awareness about the products or services. Blogging is related to people talking about the products or services that have to be promoted. It helps the people in educating about several things and does have a target audience who can subscribe to the blogs in a easy manner.

Taking the help of wikis is yet another option in the process of social media optimization. Wikis or wikipedia is the best place to share something new with the people at large. They are the best place to submit the content. Another great tool for surpassing the information is through the use of forums. Through the help of forums, one not only gets syndicate information but also gain knowledge about the market trends and what consumers want. Social media optimization can bring in more ripples of evolution and development in the world of online promotions.

Social media optimization is all about forming groups of like- minded people and sharing the information. It is a new form of society that has come into place. Social media sites provide a single platform to different types of business minds to come together and share their knowledge. Thus, the success behind social media optimization is its quality to accommodate several business minds under one roof. Facebook, Orkut etc provide a good opportunity in promoting business in a methodical manner. Social media optimization does provide a good help to business owners in making their products affordable and the company name visible on the global market. One must take care while selecting a social media firm. He can research on the internet and know the details. The details can be provided by the firm itself from its website. The details about the reputation of the firm can be provided by the earlier clients. It is important to find a reliable firm before handing over the project so that there is no waste of money.



Update me when site is updated

Social Media Marketing Success - Three Steps on How to Maximize Your Efforts

Posted by admin – February 10, 2009

Doug Firebaugh asked:


Social Media.

Social Media Marketing.

THOSE 2 things has been written and talked about the last 2 years a LOT. But believe it or not, not a lot of small businesses or home businesses are using this powerful business and marketing “Zone” yet. Many people, because it is on the internet, shy away for it as if it were the plague.

“I am not a geek” people tell me. Well, we have “ungeeked the geek” for many small and home business owners, and made social media make sense to them

But there are exceptions.

I was talking with a business owner the other day and she made the comment, “I don’t go to those kind of sites. I don’t have time to do that as my business is struggling and I need to go and find more customers.”

That says it all.

That shows a total lack of understanding of what social media/web 2.0 is really about, and what it can do for the average small business and home business -even on a local basis. If people really “got it” about social media marketing, they would be running to the social media zone and staying there.

There is a lot of talk that it is not “proven” as it is too new and the jury is still out on it being a viable marketing process.

I totally disagree. The social media marketer is paving a path for those to follow through a jungle that has never been explored, nor walked. People like proof. People like results. But it is the social media marketer that will create the way that will birth new millionaires with business folks who do “get” the Web 2.0 world. It is not that hard to understand either.

If you can send an email, you can “do” social media marketing. You can master twitter, facebook, myspace, blogs, wikis, podcasts, article marketing, and all the other parts of the new media, if you can send an email. Yes, there is a learning curve, and yes, it does take a little effort-but what doesn’t? We have expanded our business tremendously with social media tactics, and everyday, we wake up with dozens of new leads for our training and consulting business in our email box. How would you like to have that happen to you?

You can. You can tap into an endless pool of leads that will just keep increasing, if you decide to jump into the Social Media zone. And we will be glad to teach you how to maximize for maximum Success with your Social Media efforts.

All you need to do is make a decision that you will take the time and study and learn social media a little at a time, and learn the culture, and the processes of each website.

Here are 7 websites that you must register with to get started in social media if you have a small or home business. Each have “help” tutorials or videos about how to use them properly, and also there is a LOT of information on the web as well on “how to”:

1) http://www.facebook.com

2) http://www.twitter.com

3) http://www.mashable.com (A GREAT website for learning generic social media.)

4) http://www.stumbleupon.com

5) http://www.digg.com

6) http://www.youtube.com

7) http://www.socialmediatrainingnetwork.com’ (A GREAT social website for learning social media tactics for small and or home businesses.)

And then do three things after learning how the site works:

1) CONNECT.

2) COMFORTABLE.

3) CONSTRUCT.

1) CONNECT.

The main thing you need to do is connect with people on these sites, and become a friend with them. Most of these sites have a process to befriend folks. Follow their process. Sound easy enough? But there is a type of friend that we teach that you must become. An “Addition Friend.” This is simply a friend that ADDS to people’s lives, not takes.

On the social media scene, most people are looking to Add, Enhance, Increase, and Enlarge a part of their life. YOU must help them do that with connecting with them and showing them new information about what you do, and how what you do can help them and change them for the better. It MUST not ever be a sales pitch, but simply information that will impact them enough that they may want to connect with you further about that in their life.

If you are a real estate agent, give them info on the 5 Biggest mistakes made while buying a home. If you are a CPA, give them some info on the 3 biggest mistakes made on tax returns. If you are in skin care, give them the 7 best ways to keep your skin healthy. You get the idea. You can find this type of information all over the web. Just send them the web address (url) to the article or blog post with a short note saying you thought of them when you ran across this.

We call it “Connection Marketing” and it WORKS when you allow it to.

CONNECT with the person –> CONNECT with their goals –> then CONNECT them to valuable information that will help them achieve them. Then most of the people Will then connect with your interests and be willing to help you with yours.

2) COMFORTABLE.

You must get the people on the social media sites COMFORTABLE with you.

How?

Talk about them, and how you can help them reach their goals and dreams- either with what you do, or with what you know. We call it “Comfortable Conversation(TM).” You must hold online “conversations” with people and get them comfortable with you, and comfortable with staying connected with you. You do this by talking about what THEY are interested in, and then you PROVE to them you are serious about adding value to their life.

It is ALL about Value in the social media arena. People expect Value in your messages and communication, and if you give them things that will help them in their endeavors, (blog posts on their industry, articles on doing what they do better, etc,) they will get very comfortable with you, and even helping you with YOUR endeavors. They will be moving towards you quickly if you practice that focus in your social media efforts.

3) CONSTRUCT.

Simply, in Social media Marketing, you must Construct a bridge between you and the person that eventually leads OFFLINE and onto the telephone.

THAT is the secret to Success in social media marketing. We call it the “TIO Factor.” Take It Offline and let the personalization begin.

You have connected with the person- in person-at least in voice.

You have gotten them comfortable with you by your interest in helping them achieve their goals.

Now you must construct a path that allows you to say, “What is your contact number? I would love to chat with you for real over the phone.” Then just do that. It may take a few days or a couple of weeks. But if you could pick up 10 new customers with this conversation would it be worth it?

Of course it would be. And how would you do that?

Ahhh–That is another article on Social Media Marketing Success.

blessings…doug



Update me when site is updated