Your LinkedIn profile is the public-facing summary of who you are, what you represent, what your professional history is, and your area of expertise. In essence, your profile is a snapshot of the brand you are sharing with the entire world. It’s only natural, then, that increasing the Inbound Marketing potential of our profile can lead to more exposure – and business – from our target audience. When you establish your profile in a way that highlights your company’s expertise and outlines how you can assist potential customers, you maximize the business opportunities for you and your business. Although you might …
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“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is a very fitting description for what businesses are learning when they do not have their social media presence reviewed by a social media law attorney. Here are a few examples of what businesses have had to pay as a result of not complying with the law in this area (which is admittedly a work in process with offline rules being a useful guide): 1. A non-profit company, Hispanics Union of Buffalo, Inc. (“HUB”) was ordered to rehire 5 employees that it fired for complaining about a co-worker on Facebook, …
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The New Year is a great time to either start a brand new blog or revamp your exiting website. One of the ways to improve your blog in 2012 is by using plugins that make it more social media optimized and SEO friendly. Having the right plugins can give you an edge over other blogs and can also assist you in gaining the extra functionality you need for your WordPress-powered site, especially if social media is an important part of your marketing strategy. Let’s have a look at the top plugins that I recommend you utilize in 2012. There’s a few …
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Before we can even begin to explore this topic of which social networking sites are most appropriate for B2B sales, we need to first answer the question … “Why should I be active, and invest my time, on any of these social networking sites to begin with?” If your goals include: Being found by others who are in need of your services Establishing and sharing your expertise Expanding your contact base beyond that of your traditional circles Gaining more business and referrals from existing customers Building stronger client relationships Tracking key contact movements Identifying decision makers and influencers “Humanizing” your …
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As 2011 leaves us and we begin 2012, sometimes it takes time for us to catch up in the world of social media to all of the new applications as well as new features from older applications that we have been inundated with. Take LinkedIn, who introduced us many new features in 2011 that you might not already be leveraging as the new year in 2012 begins. It seems that LinkedIn is always tinkering with ways to improve the user experience of its members and to provide them with the necessary tools and features to help them gain a leg …
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The holiday decorations are put away and the New Year’s Eve ball has dropped. January is here and it’s traditionally a rough month for non-profit organizations. With the holidays just wrapping up, volunteers have started to down-shift and take a little time off to relax. The annual appeal gifts have tapered off and donations are trickling in at best this month. Staff may have started preparing for spring events, but corporations and personal donors won’t start thinking about contributions for another 30 days. These things make January the perfect month to get your social media plan in place for 2012. …
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In my last article I said that combining content marketing with social media can generate impressive results; that it can turn content into a work horse, one that generates real returns for the business. That is the good news. Unfortunately, it is much easier to try to bring the two together in ways that are not terribly impactful, or worse, hurt the brand. Success means overcoming differences between the worlds of marketing and social media. Marketers need to open themselves to new ways of communicating and launching campaigns. Social media practitioners need to learn more about marketing and get in …
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Smart marketing puts your message right in front of your audience. With millions of people participating in social media each day, using social media platforms to market your business can be a smart move. If you’re warming up to the idea of social media and see it as a legitimate strategy, a logical step is to embrace it and find a team member or a trusted outsourcing provider to build up your social presence. But before you sign over your social presence to an outside provider, it’s important to ask whether social media should be outsourced and, if so, how …
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It’s been several months since the incredible misfortune and tragic events that have struck my beloved 2nd home of Japan. Although you don’t read about it on the news anymore, Japan is still in crisis in both trying to contain a nuclear power plant which might require years of work while also trying to keep radiation-tainted food away from the dinner table of 125 million Japanese who are understandably nervous. #PrayforJapan still needs you, so please do not forget to include the Japanese nation in your prayers. Thank you. Twitter has always had more uptake in Japan when compared to …
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We’re at the apex of the “frantic” time of year: holiday shopping, business and private parties, seasonal school plays and concerts; a festive period that lasts until the end of the calendar year, into nascent 2012. Granted, from a religious perspective (or even its commercial gift-giving-and-eating version), many people don’t recognize or celebrate the “big” Christmas holiday, but in western countries it is a statutory holiday. And despite religious origins, people of other faiths recognize and appreciate the tranquil aspects of the holiday: peace and goodwill, festive lights and yummy food. At a minimum, after a pre-holiday rush of ramped-up …
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