Are you using YouTube to market your business? Here are the all-important facts and figures that demonstrate just why you should be…
If you would like to learn more about video marketing, click here.
Reputation Management (Infographic)
Reputation Management: Reviews can make or break your online marketing efforts! Check out our easy-to-follow infographic to manage your online reputation and protect your business:
If you would like to learn more about online reputation management, click here to contact us for a free consultation.
Google Plus Local Explained (Infographic)
Local consumers today spend a great deal online trying to find local businesses who have what they need or want – this includes food, entertainment, banking, shopping, auto repair, hair care, massages, lawn care, and the list goes on and on.
According to Google, one in five searches includes a “location,” which prompted them to create a solution that will help businesses attract new local customers.
Today, that solution is Google+ Local, which is a portal of business profile listing pages that replaced what was once known as the popular “Google Places.”
As a small business owner, you are probably always hunting for inexpensive ways to put your business in front of your local consumers. Since consumers today spend a great deal of time online researching businesses, an online presence is no longer an option – it’s a must. A Google+ Local Page is one way to accomplish this goal by helping you establish a strong online presence geared specifically to your local consumers.
We’ve put together this infographic to explain Google+ Local and how you can use it to put your business on the map:
Facebook Timeline: What You Need To Know
I’m sure you’ll agree that there are many changes that Facebook has thrown upon us page owners, and if you’ve watched the video guide above, you’ll know this is one of the biggest changes they have ever made. Well, the good news is that even the best of Facebook marketers have to start back at ground zero trying and tweaking to see how the new layout works. And that’s good news for you. It means that you can start today and build up your brand by implementing these new features and functions that have been rolled out in the new Timeline layout.
In summary, here’s what’s changed:
- Default landing tabs have been removed, which means you can no longer have a like/reveal welcome page or automatically direct visitors to one of your apps. You can still put these features to good use, but you need to win over visitors with your Timeline content first, before encouraging them view your apps and fan-only content.
- You can now message your fans – this is a fantastic new feature for encouraging interaction and building relationships with your customers.
- Tabs are wider at 760px
- You can add a cover image, but follow the guidelines (see below) so you don’t get slapped by Facebook, or worse, lose your page altogether.
- There’s a new look admin panel with more tools to learn about your fans and social reach, as well as to keep track of your timeline activity.
Don’t think of these changes as a bad thing. Yes, they can definitely be a pain initially, but this allows some of the smaller pages to play catch up and to look just as good as the bigger brands out there.
With the new layout, companies are better able to represent themselves by adding important dates to their Timelines. This means that if you’ve been operating your business for any amount of time, you’re now able to populate your Facebook page with the goings on of your business. You can go back in time, so to speak, and add all your business’ important events to your Facebook Timeline – something that just couldn’t be done before.
This also brings up another important point – that users are now able to see far back into your page. They are able to dig as far back as you’ve got entries or as far back as the oldest photo you’ve dated. So, you’ll want to be careful and ‘spring clean’ your page to make sure that what your fans are seeing is exactly the way you want to be represented on Facebook.
Start by going through your page the way a user would – you may be surprised by some of the older posts, pictures etc. that you (and they) are now able to see.
Finally, make sure you are fully familiar with Facebook’s terms before making any changes to your page. Below are rules that Facebook has implemented that every page owner MUST follow.
Your cover image MUST NOT contain:
- Price or purchase information, such as “50% off” or “Download it at our website”
- Contact information, such as website, email, address or other information intended for your ‘About’ section.
- References to ‘Like’ or ‘Share’, or any other Facebook site features.
- Calls to action, such as “Call us today” or “Click on our Welcome tab”.
So far, we’ve seen a lot of page owners breaking some of these rules – it won’t be long before Facebook starts shutting these guys down!
All of these changes can be a little over-whelming for some companies to take on. We know some of the smaller companies don’t even have the time to maintain their presence on Facebook let alone go back and edit their entire history.
If you’re thinking ‘That’s us!’, then why not have a chat with us about taking care of it all for you. We help businesses achieve any goal they want on Facebook – from simply setting up a page and designing some eye-catching cover graphics, to running quizzes and competitions, to taking over the day-to-day posting and interaction for them. If you just can’t spare the man (or woman) power, but you know you need to be on Facebook, then let us do it for you.
If you’re interested in chatting about what we can do for you, contact us here.
Three Reasons Video Marketing Fails: Don’t Make These Mistakes!
Video marketing is super hot, and everyone wants a piece of the pie. Chances are, you have been subjected to video marketing yourself – some good, and some terrible. As you are planning your own video marketing campaign, set yourself up for success – not abject failure!
Here are three top reasons video marketing« Continue »
Optimise Your Facebook Fan Page To Be Found OUTSIDE Facebook!
How To Get Your Facebook Fan Pages Ranking In The Search Engines (and other ways to get more ‘Likes’)
Connect With TBE!
Hello everyone! We just wanted to share a few tips with you about how to search engine optimise your Facebook Fan Pages…1. Every Fan Page you create should have a tightly focused theme. If you’re involved in several businesses, you should create a Fan Page for each and not promote one page on another. Keep them totally separate.
2. Go to the Google Keyword Tool and enter your main theme keyword and look for additional keywords you can use that have a lot of searches each month. Compare the Global Searches Per Month number from the Google Keyword Tool with the number returned by Google and look for keywords for a high number of monthly searches and a low number of competing websites. This will make it easy for you to rank for that particular keyword.
3. Once you have determined your main business keyword and additional keywords you would like to target, use the main theme keyword in your Fan Page Title and in your Profile.
4. Talk about your Facebook Page on other social networking sites, such as Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster, Foursquare and of course Linkedin! Write some quality content about your business to publish on sites, such as HubPages, Squidoo, tumblr, Scribd, and ezinearticles. Always link back to your Facebook Fan Page from your articles.
7. In the profiles you create for the different social networking sites, send a link back to your Facebook Fan Page URL and where possible, connect your Facebook Fan Page so your updates post to these other sites.
8. Visit blogs and forums that are relevant to your business, post a useful, helpful comment, and a link back to your Facebook Fan Page.
These are just a selection, but a good thing to get started with to help generate more fans and to get your page going viral!
If you don’t have a Fan Page for your business yet, or you’d like one that looks a bit cooler than the generic one, I have a free fan page generator that you can set up a nice looking page with in 10 minutes. There’s also a free report on how to make killer fan pages for your business.
The generator is invites only, but I’d like to give everyone in the group the opportunity to have a play with it and to read the report! Just let us know your name or your business name (leave a comment or send it to us at facebook@tbelocal.com) and we’ll create a personal url for you, from which you can create your free page and download your report.
The generator is invites only, but I’d like to give everyone in the group the opportunity to have a play with it and to get the report! Just let me know your name or your business name here (or inbox me) and I’ll set up your personal url from which you can create your free page and download your report.
“Facebook SSL Connection Error”: Don’t Get Shut Out By The Lockdown!
Over 700 Million People use Facebook
Make sure none of them see a blank page, a “Facebook SSL Connection Error” or a security warning when they visit your Fan Page.
On October 1st, Facebook is forcing all Pages to use https – the secure browsing protocol. If your Fan Page does not have an SSL certificate enabled, you are going to be invisible, possibly lose existing fans and rapidly see your Social Marketing take a nosedive.
Why Over 2 Million Fan Pages Will Disappear On October 1st
Facebook is constantly under attack by hackers trying to obtain to people’s personal information. In order to cover themselves (and you!) they are adding a requirement to make Facebook more secure – requiring all Fan Pages that embed content from outside Facebook to be “secured”.
So what type of security measure do Facebook want? SSL, which stands for Secure Sockets Layer. This is the type of digital encryption that banks and payment processors use to protect financial transactions.
A lot of people have no idea how to get their SSL configured on their website…ESPECIALLY on the cheap.
What About “Shared SSL” for FREE?
There have been some tutorials going around on how to use free shared SSL certificates that come with most hosting providers. This is a really bad idea! Why? Let’s take Hostgator as an example. We love them for hosting but we caution you against using their free shared SSL certificate. Here’s an example of the shared SSL url Hostgator would give you for your fan pages:
https://server.hostingprovider.com/~username/yourdomain.com/.
Since Facebook is paranoid about security these days, this is potentially going to set off a red flag in their system. They want content that comes from identifiable locations and this does not satisfy their needs.
Don’t panic – Total Business Exposure is here to help.
We offer a complete range of consultancy services and compliance service that can be put in place before the October 1st deadline. To discuss these with us in a friendly, no-obligation way just email info@tbelocal.com today or click here and we can have you fully secured and SSL ready in 24-48 hours….at the lowest cost possible and with minimal disruption.
All the best,
The TBE Team
10 Tips to Creating a Successful Facebook Fanpage for Your Local Business | Part 1
Facebook is the frontrunner of the current social networking sites and currently has over 500 million active users around the globe!
We’ve considered what should be the 10 most important points to keep in mind when creating your local business Facebook page. In this article we cover the first five.
1. Optimise your entire account to the maximum potential. You can do this by adding a quality profile image, having an interesting and informative description of your business, making your content easily navigable using the tabs feature, including links to your website, featuring your photos and videos and so on.
2. Create a strong and loyal network of fans. Ensure that you target your marketing efforts on Facebook to get fans who are genuinely interested and passionate about your local business. It is key to emphasise and focus on your own local market because as a small business, you may lack the size to be known beyond your local area. When you focus your page on your specific business, you will gain a more targeted and involved fan base.
3. Regularly update your page with content that is valuable and relevant to your fans. Consider the most important and entertaining things that they would really enjoy reading about on your fanpage… and give it to them! If you wanted to take it a step further, you could create a survey on your page to ask them for their direct feedback.
4. Do not engage in hard selling. Facebook is a SOCIAL platform and cold selling is considered a nuisance, if not spamming. Yes, you likely want to increase your business sales through your fanpage, but you need to be subtle about it. A good method is to offer a lot of value like coupons and special deals, which will lead to sales. For example, a café can offer a free upsize on every coffee. In this way they avoid hard-selling the coffee but will obviously record more sales because to get the free upsize, customers will still need to order a coffee.
5. Position yourself as a problem solver. As a local business owner, you no doubt have a lot of specialist knowledge and skills pertaining to your niche… so turn those competencies into an asset! Become the go-to person for your fans. For example, a boutique owner can use their fanpage to help readers who need advice on styling an outfit or how to tell if a designer bag is real or fake.
Standby by for part two, where we’ll be covering 5 more tips on creating a successful Facebook Fanpage for your local business.
Our London Social Media Agency Says: “Speak To Your Customers!”
You can use social media strategically, automate a lot of it, and get rid of the time wasters but what you can’t or should not do is give up the conversation. The trick is framing your conversation within your niche. Believe it or not, answering questions, and giving away info free on social media networks like LinkedIn on there “answers” area can go a long way toward creating good will, which can lead to clients who want you enough to pay the rates you’re asking, or site visitors who are already primed to purchase what you recommend. By offering a piece of yourself, it happens almost as if by magic.
Automation is great for ending time wasting tasks of posting fresh blog posts, new articles, and outside information. It frees up your time so that you can have a real conversation with potential clients in all of your social networks whether it is Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or a forum you enjoy. Spending time having real conversations and answering queries will establish you as an expert, bring traffic to your blog, and provide you with valuable info and connection to your target market.
If you want to make social media truly useful so that it provides a return on investment (ROI) then you have to join in the conversation. If everyone automates everything and only applications and Virtual Assistants are participating in the media then it loses the social characteristic and eventually the value will plummet.
No one who can make decisions or offer value will be watching if it’s all automated.
The best person to communicate your vision to the world is you. The myth of the four hour work week is that you don’t have to participate at all. It’s true you probably can outsource your entire life, but where is the joy in that? You could save time, but ultimately you lose connection to the people you wanted to connect with in the first place when you started your business. Certainly you had a goal that involved connecting with someone or helping someone. Never forget why you started your business in the first place.
If you would like our London Social Media Agency to advise and assist you with your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn marketing, please contact us here.
London Social Media Marketing
For businesses in London, social media marketing is becoming an essential tool in the marketing arsenal.
You’ve heard all the buzz, and your curiosity has been piqued. What actually is social media marketing and can your company benefit from it? Are there only certain types of business that should be using it?« Continue »
