Which Social Networking Site Is the Most Important?
Where should you be devoting the most time and energy to your social network marketing efforts? This is an important question for any company that has to choose where to devote their time and resources, and there aren’t many of us who don’t.
Let’s start with the raw numbers: Facebook has more than 400 million members, while Twitter has just over 100 million, and LinkedIn only counts around 50 million. So Facebook is the clear winner, right?
Well, maybe not. Because even though Facebook might be the giant on the block, Twitter is currently the fastest growing, and because LinkedIn is typically used only by professionals, it has the highest potentially-great-client-to-contact ratio, meaning that someone you meet there has the best chance of buying big from you later.
In truth, however, none of these statistics or ideas matter all that much. That’s because they all look at things from the wrong point of view. The most important social networking site is the one where your customers spend the most time. Wherever it is in cyberspace that they like to hang out, is exactly where you should be.
Often, those of us who have been in marketing, online or off-line, for a number of years start to unconsciously make things a little more complicated than they have to be. I suspect that’s the reason so many people are wondering about whether they will be more successful with this social media site or that one. If you want to get the most out of your time and money, just follow the Golden rule and go where your clients are. Learn to give them what they like, where they like it, and you’ll be just fine.
Social media marketing requires the combination of simple concepts with flawless execution. At Ulistic, we know the technology and terrain, and can help you add new sales through all the social media consulting platforms.
Are You “Doing” Social Media, or Working a Social Network Marketing Plan?
Social media, for all its wonders and delights, is in danger of becoming the ultimate form of online marketing “busy work.” The reason why is pretty simple: with hundreds of millions of users logging onto Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter fairly consistently, companies know they can’t afford to miss out on the opportunity to participate; yet at the same time, few of them have actually figured out how to make any money from their profiles and content.
The result is a game that everyone wants to play, but no one seems to know how to win.
And so, we want to ask you: are you simply “doing” social media, or are you working your social network marketing plan? If you aren’t sure of the answer, just ask yourself a follow-up question – what are you hoping to get, in terms of real-world business results, from setting up your profiles, posting updates, and otherwise tweaking your content? If you don’t know, then there’s a good chance you’re wasting a lot of your time.
Just because social media sites can be a lot of fun, and because everyone is using them, doesn’t automatically make them a great place to spend your marketing time and dollars. That’s not to say we think you should dump your Facebook and Twitter accounts today; there definitely are opportunities to reach new customers through these channels. But if you find yourself just logging in, making a few posts, and then checking up on your friends, then you already know those are wasted minutes.
If you aren’t sure how to turn your social networking contacts into clients, talk with us over at Ulistic to see how we can help turn your online profiles into real-world sales.
Is Your Search Engine Optimization Plan Based on Bad Assumptions?
[Video Transcript]
Is Your Calgary Search Engine Optimization Plan Based on Bad Assumptions?
Search engine optimization is kind of an interesting field sometimes. Although it started out with some pretty simple principles — like the right way is to title your pages, the importance of gathering some inbound links, and even working with those pesky meta- tags everyone got to be so familiar with — a large SEO project today resembles something like a space shuttle launch, complete with spreadsheets, timetables, and endless reports and graphs.
But for all the so-called science behind searches, there’s still a lot of room for hard work and common sense. In fact, if there’s one mistake we see over and over, it isn’t a lack of knowledge or technical ability… it’s starting with the wrong assumptions.
Let me explain: most of us would agree that getting to one of the top spots on Google would be a great thing. It might take more than a year and a (hefty financial investment) to accomplish, but who wouldn’t love to have hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of potential customers swinging by your homepage every day?
For any of that to be profitable, though, you have to begin with the right keywords and phrases in mind — not necessarily the ones that are going to bring you the most traffic, but the ones that will lead to the greatest number of sales.
A surprising number of businesses and marketers never make that strategic leap. They always assume that more traffic is going to equal higher revenue, when a better, less competitive keyword sits unnoticed. That’s a pretty big tactical mistake, based on a poor assumption, and one that is surprisingly easy to make. So, as you begin refine your next SEO campaign, stop and ask yourself: are we doing a lot of work to achieve the wrong thing?
If your Calgary search engine optimization campaign could benefit from some stronger focus, or execution, contact us at Ulistic, of Calgary, Alberta today. We’ve got the skills and experience to help you reach the top spots on all the major search engines.
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Ulistic focuses on serving the needs of Business, REALTORS, and Information Technology firms across Canada and United States. Helping your business understand, deploy and leverage social media, search engine optimization and online communications to generate business opportunities and make an impact inside your community and industry.
My business partner Stuart and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.
I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email dawest@ulistic.com.
Change Your Name, Do It Now
Will you be one of the people that has to change your name in the future? Will you have to close your company and relaunch with a whole new persona one day?
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google has predicted that people may indeed be given the opportunity to change their names to avoid exposure to their youthful exploits on their friends Social Media sites.
Schmidt’s comments came during an interview with the Wall Street Journal,
“I don’t believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time,” he says. He predicts, apparently seriously, that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends’ social media sites.”
“I mean we really have to think about these things as a society,” he adds. “I’m not even talking about the really terrible stuff, terrorism and access to evil things,” he says.
It does beg the question, will you have to change your name? How about your company name. The impact that Social Media and the new “user contributed web” is having on society has yet to be truly measured. I believe we are only now starting to see the real damages surface. While social media practitioners tout the virtues of being “social”, and very often with an emphasis on sales, there is far too little conversation around management of reputation.
Hal Varian posted, on Google’s 10th Anniversary,
“Information technology has enabled the “democratization of data:” information that once was available to only a select few is now available to everyone. This is particularly true for small businesses.”
During a recent Ulistic Webinar, I expanded on that thought and stated,
“The democratization of the Internet by way of user contributed communities has changed the way that data is created. Your corporate story will now be written collaboratively by you, your employees, ex-employees and the public.”
The reality is that, on the democratized web, Corporations no longer create all of their data – they participate in it.
I think it is safe to say that business owners are feeling a stressful pressure to participate in the Social Internet to one degree or another.
As the Borg used to state, on Star Trek, “Resistance is futile.”
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Ulistic focuses on serving the needs of Business, REALTORS, and Information Technology firms across Canada and United States. Helping your business understand, deploy and leverage social media, search engine optimization and online communications to generate business opportunities and make an impact inside your community and industry.
My business partner Stuart and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.
I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email dawest@ulistic.com.
New Global Social Networking Experience for Travelers
Minglejet Inc. is pleased to announce the beta launch of Minglejet.com, the newest global social networking experience.
Minglejet.com is the only website that seamlessly combines travel with social networking. Mingle and connect with friends as well as plan, organize and share upcoming events/trips with an advanced calendar system complete with drag-to-select events and a robust invite system. Users can book cheap flights, hotels, car rentals, buy concert/event tickets and so much more.
More Information
Minglejet.com features easy to set up user profiles. Users can upload photos to their profile page and add or invite friends by using the “Find a Friend” tab. Minglejet.com users can send friends messages, write on their profile page wall or make comments on the community chat. By using the “update your status” feature at the top of the user’s profile page, users can let their friends know how they are feeling or what they are doing. Users can view the status updates and profiles of their friends on the home page or by clicking on “My Network” while logged in.
Minglejet.com has numerous features to facilitate travel and entertainment. The “My Calendar” allows users to add vacation, concert and event details into their Calendar. Users can easily invite friends to trips/events using an invite feature or simply notify them of an upcoming trip/event. Users can make upcoming events public on their profile page and share these dates and details with friends. Other features include finding and booking flights, rental cars and hotels/resorts, which are accompanied by hotel reviews from Trip Advisor, making it easier to find the best hotels.
Minglejet.com also features a full concert and event database through Ticketmaster.
Minglejet.com’s home page features a forum with Community Posts, Travel Stories, Travel News & Reviews and Upcoming World Events. Users also have access to an extensive Restaurant database to find restaurants and share reviews of restaurants they have visited. Minglejet.com also provides users with current weather forecasts to help plan for the weather at your designated travel destination.
Minglejet.com is the next global social networking experience connecting friends, family and business colleagues worldwide.
About Minglejet:
Minglejet.com is the only website that seamlessly combines travel with social networking. Mingle and connect with friends as well as plan, organize and share upcoming events/trips with an advanced calendar system complete with drag-to-select events and a robust invite system. Users can book cheap flights, book hotels online, car rentals, buy concert tickets and so much more.
________________________________
Ulistic focuses on serving the needs of Business, REALTORS, and Information Technology firms across Canada and United States. Helping your business understand, deploy and leverage social media, search engine optimization and online communications to generate business opportunities and make an impact inside your community and industry.
My business partner Stuart and I are business professionals first. We understand what it takes to run a successful small business.
I invite you to reach out to me personally at 403.775.2205 or email dawest@ulistic.com.
