Target Keywords
Your first and foremost duty is to look over the subject of you website and jot down all the keywords that come up in your mind. when you start to think about related issues, persons, object, goals. Put yourself in your clients’ shoes and write down every possible and impossible keyword, which the visitors are most likely to use, when searching for the information that you have. You can consult your friends, associates or customers for a second opinion in this regard as well.

Use A Keyword Tool
If you want an expert opinion, get a keyword tool, which will offer you the most suitable suggestions of keywords for your website. You can take online help in this regard and can get some free online keyword tools. These tools can give you some useful suggestions like which keywords or phrases are the most popular now and which keywords are more likely to bring you the traffic you desire. Learn more here: http://www.googlekeywordtool.com/

Track Your Competitors
You must keep an eye on your competitor sites and constantly keep a track what keywords they use. Keyword tags in the source code are the best place to find these keywords. To check a particular website’s keyword click “Source” in your “View” menu. In case it won’t work, right click in a blank area of the website and click “View Source” from the menu that shows up.

Use Pay-Per-Click
If it is within your budget, you can use pay-per-click program as well. It will help you to determine how many impressions you are receiving from each keyword and eventually you can decide which search terms are the best for your website. Pay-per-click is an effective strategy, which can ensure that viewers will be able to locate your website through search engines.

Use Exact Match keywords
Last but not the least, make sure your keywords are to the point, accurate and “exact match”, avoid information keywords or those, which are “broad match” or “phrase match”. To be more specific, ideally your keywords should be sub-niche keywords, which contain three or more words and are far less competitive than common keyword phrases, with high search volume. In order to reduce competition, stick with keywords which have at least 1,000 monthly searches, but not more than 1,500.

People use the hashtag symbol # before relevant keywords in their Tweet to categorize those Tweets to show more easily in Twitter Search
Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets in that category
Hashtags can occur anywhere in the Tweet
Hashtagged words that become very popular are often Trending Topics

Example: In the Tweet below, @twitter added the hashtag before the phrase “GoGiants”. The word is now a link to search results for all Tweets containing “#GoGiants” in the message.

Using hashtags

If you Tweet with a hashtag on a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your Tweet
Don’t #spam #with #hashtags. Don’t over-tag a single Tweet. (Best practices recommend using no more than 3 hashtags per Tweet.)
Use hashtags only on Tweets relevant to the topic

Many times, prospects will come to your Facebook page before visiting your website, so it’s important to make a good first impression. Your Facebook page should be the focal point for your business’s brand: the place where you project your company’s image to your customers and prospects. This is your chance to show the world what you’re business is all about.

Many people go to Facebook to connect to family and friends and people they have not seen in a long time. There are games to play, silly gifts to give and all kinds of other “Fun” things to do. However, here are many ways that Facebook can be used to promote your business as well. First, although Facebook has the option of creating a business account, it is better for you to set up a Personal Profile for yourself that will be solely used for the purpose of promoting your business. The reason for this is that a Business account on Facebook is limited in functionality.

According to its description of Business Accounts, Facebook states:
“Business accounts are designed for individuals who only want to use the site to administer Pages and their ad campaigns. For this reason, business accounts do not have the same functionality as personal accounts. Business accounts have limited access to information on the site. An individual with a business account can view all the Pages and Social Ads that they have created, however they will not be able to view the profiles of users on the site or other content on the site that does not live on the Pages they administer. In addition, business accounts cannot be found in search and cannot send or receive friend requests.”

Setting up your Profile
It is very important that you familiarize yourself with Facebook’s Terms of Rights and Responsibilities in order to make sure you are following their rules. For example, Facebook has a policy that does not allow people to maintain multiple accounts. Therefore, if you already have a personal account, you will either need to set up the company profile under the name of someone else in your company that does not already have an account with Facebook or forgo using your personal account for anything other than to promote your business.

Once you have created an account for your business, fill out your profile as completely as you can. This is your best advertisement and will help you start to establish your brand. Be sure and include your contact information along with your personal web site or blog URL. You can upload a professional or business casual head shot of yourself as your main profile photo in order to add to your professional image and put a personal touch on your page. If you wear a uniform all of the time, you may want to wear your uniform for your profile photograph. Remember you are your brand so you want to pay attention to all of the details that will help build your brand.

Be sure to include content that will build your brand strategy. This includes:
• Regularly posting helpful links, suggestions and notifications
• Choosing a profile image that portrays your company’s branding, and is easily recognizable
• Posting photos that represent your business’s “personality” (remember, people buy from people, so include photos of yourself or your employees)
• Encouraging sharing and interaction among your Facebook followers
• Quickly responding to feedback in a professional way

Managing your Settings
As soon as you get your profile started, you need to go into the settings in your Facebook account and set your preferences that allow you to keep parts of your profile private. For example, you may want to have personal pictures there for your friends and family to see that you may not want clients to see. You have the ability to set your preferences so that only those you allow will see this personal information. You also have the ability to prevent others from posting to your page, or to keep updates from others’ pages from showing up as a post on yours. You don’t want to take the chance of something inappropriate appearing on your Facebook page.

Next, when setting up your page, Facebook offers 20 + pages of Applications such as the Blog RSS Feed Reader Ap, which you can customize to look like a mini version of your actual blog or web page, that allows you to integrate feeds from your company’s blog if you have one as well as to other social networking accounts that you have set up. Use the information tab of your profile to provide links to specific pages on your website such as your contact form or products and services page, along with information on how your readers can subscribe to your blog or newsletter.

Begin Networking!
Allison Driscoll’s 8 Essential Apps for Your Brand’s Facebook Page lists 15 key steps that are relatively simple but will allow you to have maximize your success with using Facebook to promote your website:

1. Vanity URL: Now that you’ve gotten your Facebook up and running you can reach out and connect with potential customers and business affiliates. Facebook has added a Vanity URL feature that you can use to create web address which is specific to your page, is static and can be used to help others find your profile easier.

2. You can include your Social Networking URLs in the signature line on all of your emails as well as posted on your website. In addition, you can feature this unique URL on all of your business supplies such as business cards and letter head.

3. Search Feature: Use the Search feature at the top of your Facebook pages, using key terms such as Business Networking, Business Marketing, Intellectual Property and so on to look for people and businesses in your industry that you can connect with. A list will generate featuring People, Pages, Groups, Applications, Events, Web Results, Posts by Friends and Posts by Everyone found as a result of your key term search. Try multiple search terms, including pluralities of words to make the most out of your searches. Search often as new profiles are added to Facebook each and every day.

4. Start sending Friend Requests: Click on the link for People and scroll through the list looking for potential leads and contacts. Send friend invites to anyone who you feel would be a good contact for you and your business. As your list grows, you will also see that every time you refresh your home page, Facebook gives suggestions of others who you may potentially want to connect with based on those already in your friends list. Check there every time you fresh your homepage to see if there are others who may be of potential interest that you can also connect with.

5. Join Networking Groups: From your original search list, click on the link for Groups. Search for groups and fan pages that you feel are relevant to your business and industry that may be of interest to you or who’s fans you feel would benefit from your products and services.

6. Click the link to become a fan and then post a quick hello in the Write Something box to introduce yourself to others in the group. Go back often to the groups you join and post things that you feel will of interest to the group.

7. Create a Group(s) of Your Own: Go to your home page and click on the Groups link on the left hand side of the page. A list of the groups you are a fan of will pop up. There you can create a group or groups of your own that is pertinent to your industry and will be searchable based on the terms you feature in the title and within the posts that you and your “fans” post to the group. Make sure it is set so that your group members can invite their “friends” to join the group as well. Be sure and mention your Facebook group on your main Facebook page, in your blog and on your website. As more people come to your group, they will invite others to the join the group and the group will continue to grow.

8. Create a Discussion Board: Facebook features a Discussion Board Application that you can use in conjunction with your Facebook page. Featuring a Discussion Board allows you the opportunity to post interesting topics pertinent to your business and in turn enables your customers and potential prospects to tell you what they think, feel and desire. It will help you get to know your customers better putting you in a better position to customize your products and services to your customers needs.

9. Keep a Calendar of Events: If you are planning to attend or host a business function that will be open to the public or perhaps you will be traveling to a specific part of the country, post a calendar on your Facebook page (they have one in the 20+ pages of available applications) letting your readers know. Post upcoming events including webinars, conferences and any other upcoming events you will or someone from you business will attend or host.

10. Stay Active and Current: And post regularly on your Facebook Profile Page, Group(s), Fan Pages and on your Discussion Boards in order to keep your group members interested and coming back for more. Post interesting tidbits that are relevant to your field. Remember as each person connects with you, you have the potential to connect with everyone they are connected with.

11. Build Awareness: Facebook offers very affordable, targeted cost-per-click advertising options that can be laser-targeted to the city you do business in. You only pay per click, so costs are minimal. Also, a Facebook page or group can be created to help get the word out about your organization.

12. Distribute Information: Local businesses need to affordably communicate events, news, products and services. Facebook allows you to leverage your personal and professional contacts to share information– for free.

13. Create Community: Social networking serves to bring people together. Your local business can brand, build, and boost business by creating a Facebook page or group so your local contacts can converse with each other. Let your community become your best sales people and free focus group. Listen to the conversations and allow raving fans to share and get in on the conversation.

14. Offer Additional Customer Service: Through Facebook, you can answer questions, receive free feedback, promote events, and provide news to be of additional service to your locally-based audience. Facebook gives your prospective and current customers an additional web option to find and connect with you.

15. Boost Sales: Local businesses have to fight harder than ever to survive in this tough economy, but your business can have a competitive edge with Facebook. Tapping free social networking tools like Facebook to build awareness, share information, educate, build community, increase connection, and enhance customer service will all work in unison to make sales.

If you didn’t know, the Cover is the large image that appears at the top of your new Timeline. This is your place to get creative and let your everyone in your extended community know a bit more about you.

Your Cover dimensions should be at least 720 pixels wide. If it’s any narrower, you’ll be asked to select a different image. The ideal dimensions for your cover should be 850px wide by 315px high. Your profile picture has been re-sized to 125px by 125px. Cover images tend to get pixelated, so it’s best to use a high-res image.

Your Cover image is public by default – just like your profile pictures. This means ANYONE visiting your profile, whether you are friends or not, will be able to see your cover image. You don’t have to add a Cover image, but you should!

There seems to be some confusion as to what you can/cannot have on your new Timeline Cover image. I have searched Facebook’s Help Center and Terms and haven’t found anything to directly indicate that it is not permitted to have any business-related content on your Cover.

However, the first time you go to upload your Cover image, Facebook may display the following message:

So it clearly looks as if Facebook wants to prevent users from outright commerce on their profile/Timeline, and use of the Cover image for advertising. So outright commerce must mean something like users shouldn’t sell advertising space? Or, that we should have no commercial content?

Let us know what you think?

Blog: Provide the best possible content I can to inspire and connect with target audiences.

Twitter: Enables me to reach a large network of folks who enjoy and share my content with their friends. Also enables me to build communities that are taken offline and on to other social networks for further nurturing.

LinkedIn: Where people validate what I do, what I have done and who I am. It’s my online resume.

Facebook: Enables me to more intimately connect with people via my personal Facebook page, business page and private groups.

YouTube: Similar to my blog but in video format. It was a key success contributor while in startup mode.

Google+: Similar to all of the above but enables me to connect with my most favorite, geeky friends.

I get the highest number of qualified leads from Facebook. However, I have also received hot leads via LinkedIn. I have been a member of LinkedIn for since 2003. I have a network size of 850+ on LinkedIn and 1,700 of Facebook. I have over 20 recommendations from current and past colleagues and clients. The growth of this network has been 100% organic and a spill over from past employers, other social networks and life!

To join my networks and learn more about me please use the links below:
http://www.facebook.com/TheGraphicsGuy
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rhazelrigg
http://twitter.com/rhazelrigg
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhazelrigg/sets

• Improved exposure for search engine traffic.
• Ensure Google contains correct information about your business.
• Increased activity for local searches.
• Links your website to your Google Maps listing.
• Allows customers to easily create step by step driving directions.
• Allows customers to leave reviews and interact with your business.
• Allows you, or others, to add pictures to your listing.
• Gives you a competitive advantages over other, non-claimed, listings.
• One of the best ways to get your business found on Google.

How to Claim your Google Place

Fortunately, Google makes claiming your place a very simple and straight forward process. It only takes a couple of minutes. In preparation for our new office, Todaymade recently went through the process. Here’s how we did it:

1. Go to Google Places – Navigate to the Google Places homepage (http://www.google.com/places/) and chose Get Started under “Getting your business found on Google.” Once there, you will need to login with your Google Account.
2. Check For Your Business – Google Places is organized like a traditional phone directory would be, so the first thing Google will want you to do is search for your phone number. It is possible that Google has already created a basic Google Places profile of your business. The phone search will tell you if that is the case.
3. Add Your Basic Information– The next page will allow you to add or revise your official business details. Your basic information will include address, phone number, email address, company description, and website. We recommend filling out all of these fields.
   Our location is new, so we needed to start from scratch.

4. Add Your Hours of Operation – For retail or customers service locations, Google allows you to add a full listing of your office hours.
5. Add Photos & Videos– You can add photos and videos about your business to help potential customers understand what you do. You will, at minimum, want to add your logo to this area. If you have an information video about your company, be sure to add that as well. You don’t need to go crazy, but giving potential leads a feel for who you are can be a great advantage. The more you add, the more you will stand out.
   You can see our Google Place is coming together.

6. Add Additional Details – Google provides a great area to add additional details about your business. In this area, we suggest listing services offered or brands carried if you are a retail location. This area can be full of great SEO content that will help Google link you to relevant searches. Again, the more information the better.

1. Submit For Review & Confirmation – Once you have competed your profile of information, you will need to enter the review and confirmation process. In this process, Google will physically mail a card to your location. This card will contain a confirmation code that you will need to enter. While tedious, this process is in place to ensure that no one but you can claim your Google Place.

And that’s it! Claiming your Google Place is a very simple, and important, step for any business. Businesses always ask us how then can better on Google. There are many ways, but Google Places is definitely one of them. Once you have your place claimed, you will be able to make adjustments and changes but you will always want to stay within the official guidelines setup by Google.

The program, Facebook Marketing Solutions, which includes a partnership with the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will roll out over the next few months. In early 2012, Facebook will give each qualified business at least $50 of free advertising on Facebook.

The social network also promises free resources and information on how to market your business on Facebook. The company is sending its reps out to meet with small business owners in person. Since Facebook has a self-service ad platform that’s actually geared more to small advertisers than large ones, the program seems to be about building awareness, especially since 64% of small businesses think social media is unnecessary. The company took a similar approach to wooing the advertising industry in April with Facebook Studio, which also offers free resources, though there’s no free advertising component.

Click Here to Learn More

Most businesses who have a presence on Facebook do it because “everyone else is doing it,” or “I was told I needed one,” or some other vague, undefined reason. They set up their free page, update it a few times, and generally ignore it.

Then they wonder why it’s not working.

Being successful on Facebook requires that you have a social media strategy that matches up with your business goals. Otherwise you’re just wasting your time and your limited resources.

If engaging your audience on the world’s biggest social network will help you grow your business, then you need to take it seriously.

One critical part of increasing your likers is to have a landing page. Your Facebook landing page serves multiple purposes:

Sets the stage. Your wall can be a fun, engaging space when you do it well. However, for someone less familiar with your business, it may feel chaotic and overwhelming. A landing page explains who you are and acts as an introduction to your Facebook presence.
Explains the benefit of liking your business. Although liking a page isn’t a big commitment–just a click will do it–there will certainly be “like fatigue” as people are bombarded to like more pages on Facebook. A landing page can explain why someone should like your page and what benefits they may receive: discounts, daily tips, ability to engage with a brand or company they like IRL. (In Real Life.)
Extends your brand(ing). Whenever you setup an outpost, on a social media platform, you want to ensure that your brand is visible. In conjunction with your profile photo, your landing page can help establish your brand in the mind of your prospects and customers. Make sure that your brand’s personality comes through. Watch the movie embedded on flyte’s landing page to get a sense of what I mean.
Shows that you take Facebook seriously. It’s too easy to get started on Facebook, which is why every business seems to have a Facebook business page. Whenever you use a social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) you’ll get better engagement when you make your profile look “lived in.”

The new way to build Facebook pages is to have them hosted externally and embed them on Facebook using an iFrame. (Talk to your web developer if you reread that last sentence three times and still aren’t sure what it means.) That means that anything you can do on a regular page you can do on your Facebook landing page: photos, forms, embedded video…it’s all available for you to engage and persuade your audience.

So, if you want to get in front of the 750 million people using Facebook (or, more likely, a targeted segment of that audience), then add a customized, branded landing page and start getting more likers today.

Photo courtesy of www.femmefatalefotog.com

There is no right answer.  What works for one may not be right for another.

We all need to create valuable content but every industry, brand and business is different.  You need to know your industry, business, customers, and wider stakeholders to be able to produce valuable and insightful content.

Think about who you are trying to build relationships with.  Put yourself in their shoes and ask what content is going to be valuable to them?

This content can be re-mixed, mashed up, interactive, creative, innovative, and novel.  However the tone, pitch and context matter.

The KISS of death comes when we try to be too clever and people just don’t get it.

There is a long standing concept in marketing called “KISS”. KISS stands for: Keep It Simple Stupid. KISS is a market concepts that works well in all forms of marketing but KISS is the prefect concept to remember in social content creation.

Because social media is essentially computer mediated communication it is open to misinterpretation and we can easily lose context. So while we may get the intended message our audience many not.

So how do we keep it simple?

Think about the intended audience.  Pitch the communication to the right level for the audience.

Keep the message simple.  A consistent message, it’s no different to traditional marketing communications.

Use the interactivity and features of social media to increase social presence.  Research has shown that the addition of photos, videos, and other contextual cues can increase the understanding and influence of a message.

Be personable.  Don’t use jargon.  Speak to your audience in a voice they will understand.  It’s about being human.  Brand personality is key.
Tell a story.  We understand information best when it is given to us in a story.  When we tell people information it is usually in the form of a story.

We are bombarded with communication on a daily basis, and we are astute at filtering out information that is irrelevant.  I think that by keeping content simple we have a better chance of reaching, informing and influencing our stakeholders.

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