Monday, 16 January 2012

Renew Your Brand With Social Media Management

Social media management has been confirmed to be relevant when it comes to renewing one's brand or creating awareness for a new brand or product. A lot of firms have their reasons for choosing social media as a form of advertising their new brand, products or services.

One of such reasons why these firms make social media management their number choice when it comes to marketing is based on the fact that social sites is very effective in spreading information about a particular brand or service within a short period of time.

When one engages in marketing, it gives him or her opportunity to listen, read and learn from what his or her targeted audience says concerning the products or services being offered. The responses from these users will go a long way to determine how the business owner or marketer makes adjustment in order to enhance the efficacy of the product or service being offered to the targeted audience.

Most times, it can be really difficult and time consuming for one to successfully launch a social websites marketing campaign. This makes it necessary for one to maintain a cordial interaction with particular audiences or markets in order not to waste time that could be used for properly channeled marketing campaigns.

If one is making use of manager in handling all marketing or campaigns, the manager should be one who is competent and understands what it takes for one to successfully launch or renew his or her brand or services.

The manager should be able to integrate the search engine basics as far as marketing is concerned. Being able to do these things will be a stepping stone towards achieving huge success in the marketing campaign being initiated by the business owner, firm or marketer. The provision of proper monitoring, strategies, moderation of online groups and blog management will go a long way to renew one's brand through social media management.

To learn how to become a social media manager & start your own social media management business, visit the free website traffic blog

Why Use a Social Media Management Company

Why should your company use a social media management service? Well unless you've been living under a rock you know that everyone is talking about Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn these days. Just about every store you shop at will have a line printed on your receipt asking you to follow them on Twitter or Like them on Facebook and every website you visit will have links right on their page that allow you to "like" them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. What is all the fuss about? Companies these days have realized that good old word-of-mouth advertising, long known to be the most effective form of advertising, now takes place on social networks. They also know that almost everyone nowadays uses social networks and spends a good portion of their day logged into the internet.

Every major corporation these days hires a highly paid social media manager or even an entire management team to integrate their company's message online. Gaining followers and being "liked" is every bit as important, if not more so, than any other form of advertising a company can do. Having an effective online media campaign is probably even more important for smaller companies, but what happens when they can't afford their own social media expert? With the average entry-level social manager salary beginning at the $50,000 to $80,000 per year and a more seasoned professional earning in excess of $100k, many small and medium businesses simply can't afford to hire a dedicated professional.

An ineffective alternative to hiring a professional that some smaller companies have been trying is having their regular employees using social media for them. This strategy typically backfires on several levels because it distracts the employees from doing the actual jobs they are being paid for and worse than that it isn't very effective because the employees don't have the expertise to make their online efforts really work for the company and instead usually end up wasting valuable company time messaging friends or playing games on Facebook.

The answer to this problem is using a social media management company. A skilled media management company can use all the latest tools and skills to get a Blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other top social media websites working for your company for a price you can afford. Best of all you get all the benefits of hiring an expensive social media manager without having another full-time employee to pay for the benefits and a high salary. The benefits of a good online media campaign include cultivating a good online reputation for your company, increasing website traffic and ultimately increasing your company's bottom line.

Allison Marie Saad is a professional social media manager and is known over the internet as The Social Rockstar. To find out more about how social media management can benefit your business visit her website at http://www.thesocialrockstar.com

Why Do We Need a Social Media Manager For Social Media Networking?

If you look around carefully, you will notice very few institutions or brands that are not benefitting from social media networking. Whether you are an established and reputed brand or just a start up, you can find ways to use this platform for your benefit. A wide variety of tools and regular updates make it a useful tool for reaching out to a wide audience base.

Such tools like FriendFeed, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, del.icio.us, Facebook are increasingly working towards carving a social identity that will help you get connected. However every company's social media plan requires some time for it to build up, failing which it might only meet a dead end. What every company should keep in mind when adopting a new plan:

A dedicated resource is required to nurture and fuel the process Patience is the key for results to unfold

The best way to ensure that this plan falls in place is to hire a social media service provider. You also have the option of selecting a social media manager from your communications team or simply hire such a consultant. You may roll your eyes at the concept of dedicating an entire resource for a social media networking plan, but a peek into the Alexa ratings would tell you exactly how fast Facebook or Twitter is growing. It is becoming increasingly important to have this type of manager who can keep a track of the market audience and improvise plans accordingly.

Its time you think about having such a manager who can manage your online presence in the social media marketing world. It requires dedication and time which most of us will rarely find after handling the business in real life. Your manager will ensure your presence at every online event or join in listening or responding to conversations.

Simply having a presence online will not help; your manager needs to be a 'natural' at devising strategies according to the situation. He needs to be aware how the online audience is equally (perhaps more) alert than the live audience and respond with urgency to their demands or queries. An active social media networking team can prevent and handle crisis situations, if they arise at all.

An ideal social media consultant will have a plethora of qualities that will help your company surge ahead. The primary requirement is to understand your business needs properly. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, your manager will have extremely flexible job roles that will include media handling, marketing and maintain PR for the company. He will also be involved with the strategizing segment and need to possess strong verbal and written communication skills.

Our take is that being tech savvy is no longer considered an added advantage but a necessity. The scenario is changing rapidly and someone extremely flexible with determination is suitable for the role.

You must also ensure that your manager has previous experience of handling such assignments. If they do not have any evidence to support the claims, it is advised that you look further for your social media manager.

The author is an expert in content writing and social media services, and has written countless articles on the subject.

Sunday, 15 January 2012

7 Reasons Why Your Business Must Hire A Social Media Manager

Here are 7 reasons why your business must hire a Social Media Manager/Online Consultant.

Your Social Media Manager will:

1. Audit Your Existing Online Presence!

Your Online Consultant will evaluate your current web presence by looking at your website, blog, traffic solutions and existing social media presence. A lot of businesses do have some online presence. However, quite often, businesses take advice from web designers and their IT staff and end up making a right mess of their online marketing.

2. Determine Which Platforms Work Best For Your Business!

The fast paced business may enjoy Twitter but could be missing out on the huge potential of Facebook and LinkedIn. We have also met clients who only use aspects of Facebook and ignore the likes of Twitter and YouTube.

Having an online presence on just 1 or 2 platforms can be detrimental to your business - by doing so you are effectively shooting yourselves in the foot.

For any business, you need to be using several Social Media Platforms to maximise your business's exposure on the web. If you have no online exposure whatsoever, again the easiest way to get web presence is via the use of sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

3. Create And Manage Your Online Presence!

Whether you have an online presence or not, your Online Consultant will ensure that you maintain a strong online existence that matches your business's practices and ethics. Your Accounts and profiles will be created and then managed for you.

Whether you are looking for only basic online presence in the form of for example Facebook and Twitter accounts or more detailed content creation & distribution, audience building and basic reputation management across your social media platforms, your Social Media Manager can handle this all for you.

4. Clean Up Your Profiles!

Your Consultant will periodically clean up your inbox and direct messages that you may receive on Twitter or messages you receive on Facebook or LinkedIn.

All too often both business and personal social media profiles can get cluttered with a lot of useless information and spam. You only have to take a brief look on Facebook to see the many business and personal profiles that are managed poorly and hence show up a lot of spam and inappropriate information on their pages.

Cleaning up profiles can be quite a laborious job as some of our business clients get over a 100 unwanted messages a day across their social networking platforms. There are programs that can be applied to simplify the method but it is best to have a human eye determine what spam is and what may be important information. Too often the programs available cannot distinguish between automatic direct messages and 'real' messages and will hence delete all of them.

5. Handle All Status Updates!

As a business, it is important to keep your online sites alive and active. To ensure this, you need to make regular updates across your platforms. Your Online Consultant will post pre-approved status updates to make it easier for your business to focus on what you do best.

6. Work Closely With You!

Sometimes, businesses may feel that they are not being authentic if they are not answering all of their 'tweets' or messages on the different platforms themselves. Your Online Consultant will not post anything that has not already been approved or sent to you in advance. Hence, anything that is posted, will appear as if it was posted by the business itself.

Your Online Consultant is here to support the digital relationship and engagement that is necessary for your business to succeed in the online world. Your Social Media Manager will take all the headaches and overwhelm off your shoulders and will partner with you and help you with all the technological aspects that you may or may not have time to learn.

Some businesses may have the knowledge of the technological aspects of Social Media. This is great, however, to execute a full blown Marketing Plan via this medium can be very tedious and time consuming.

Any business person from any field can benefit from a Social Media Manager or Virtual Assistant. Your Online Consultant can post articles for you on your blog and research content to be shared on the different social media platforms.

In essence, your Online Consultant will work closely with you to allow you to focus on building and growing your business. And the great news is, the above can be done for you using a completely 'hands-off' approach. Your Social Media Manager is able to manage everything for you leaving you to concentrate on running your business.

7. Will Save You Money!

A good Online Consultant is a valuable asset for any business as he will save you money in more than one way.

Did you know that you could spend less for more return if you were to harness the marketing strategies and techniques that work today? A lot of our clients no longer need to use traditional advertising such as Newspaper, Yellow Pages, TV and Radio advertising to bring in new business. Their customers now come to them rather than the business having to actively search for new clients, and all for less than their current advertising spend!

Your Online Consultant can help you to create and maintain a strong local marketing presence and gain market share in your particular niche.

A full time Social Media Manager is a valuable asset to any business and hence demands a very high salary. By outsourcing the Social Media element of your business to a Social Media Manager, you can save your business thousands, and at the same time gain the expertise of an established expert who is in very much high demand today.

Dr Javaid Kiyani is the Managing Director of Magnetic Marketing Services, which specialises in providing social media and online marketing solutions for your business. We are Social Media Managers and Consultants based near Birmingham, UK.

Our Social Media Strategies are currently being used by businesses all over the country. As a Social Media Agency, we stay up to date with the latest technologies, strategies and techniques ensuring our customers and clients are using the most up to date methods.

Be sure to watch your FREE video today: http://www.MagneticMarketingServices.com/

In Demand - Social Media Manager Jobs

Is it true that business owners are being corralled into Twitter, Facebook et al? C'mon this is a free society, where you can do whatever you like. Do you despise Facebook, Twitter and the like? It's just for kids isn't it? Who wants new customers when you've got a cool ad in the yellow pages?

Seriously, You use the these methods in your company right? Don't you know that's where your target market spends it's time, in fact it's by far the best/cheapest method for connecting with them? It's 2010, and your marketing budget realizes the best ROI by investing in social media.

A great (and under utilized) social site is Amazon dot com. You may not think of it as a social media site? Sure you know them, maybe you should re-visit. One of the ways I 'fish' is with video book reviews! Just think of how many millions of folk buy at Amazon. Oh boy!

There are millions of bosses looking for managers to look after their web presence, and relatively few professionals providing this service. So it's the ideal time to start a new biz as a manager or digital consultant as the demand is monstrous! The good thing is that the learning curve for this 'job' can be quite short.

I know of one woman who spent the 18 months growing a social media business from scratch to a bunch of employees providing social media solutions and support for time poor business folk. The business is virtually zero overhead and now makes $10,000 a month! Huge income in times of growth but these days it's miraculous. The great news is that you can 'copy & paste' her system!

The rate of growth of this kind of business is quick because demand is incredibly high. Social media is now THE media, and we're only just getting started. These are thrilling times in the new online frontier.

Business' looking for assistance to getting the measure of social media must step with care. Vastly under-qualified "experts" are common te world over. This medium simply doesn't have enough history for anyone to be deeply knowledgeable, with new sites and the constant changes make this a true challenge for anyone. Begin by monitoring your present media status. Listening isn't too hard and would be the 1st step. I'd recommend business' begin the search close to home, and spread from there. You'll no doubt find someone willing and knowledgeable enough to guide your next step.

Perhaps you're a social media follower, with genuine skills in online media, if so you may wish to think about a career as a social media manager. You might prefer to launch your own biz and freelance as a consultant and/or manager to clients. There are many quality programs to be found by way if many of the most reliable and professional vendors. When choosing coaching and business products do so carefully and consider the pitfalls as well as the benefits. A 100% money-back guarantee is a must when buying digital products. Many marketers with excellent track records provide top quality products with low monetary risk.

Social media business/jobs are incredibly hot right now. If you are interested in a career in this bright new world then I'd say you're definitely in the best place, at the best time. So why wait go for it, and enjoy the ride!

To discover how YOU could make $2500 per week as a social media 'guru', see a FREE video and download a pdf report worth £197 for FREE visit - http://letsget-social.blogspot.com/

Courtesy of Paul Battrick

Why a Social Media Manager Is Important

The most important person, when it comes to social networking, is a Social Media Manager (SM Manager). A SM Manger is the person who is in charge of ensuring that your social media marketing campaign succeeds and grows. If you employ a SM Manager then you will find that the experience and increased revenue will skyrocket fast in addition to freeing up some of your own time. Your Social Media Manager can compile and advise you on the best strategies that should run hand in hand with the current social trends.

Social media is currently the best way to network and market ideas so that your consumer base can grow and develop. By using networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube etc, you are able to network like you have never been able to before. The days are gone when you had complicated equations and campaigns to highlight your product! Social media takes away all of that and has replaced it with a simpler one to one system that allows the prospective client to feel like their interests are being taken to heart and that the potential product or service you are offering is tailored to them.

To get your business thriving you need to incorporate social networking into your everyday work and the best way to do this is to hire one. Your SM Manager will open, design and handle all of your online social networking profiles. With your business name constantly being displayed on your potential customers networking sites they will choose your brand name over other peoples as displays in their sight then creates displays in their mind which in turn leads them to your product or service. Having someone to reply to their questions, messages and posts on the networking site allow them to feel that you really care and you're not just a name. This kind of human contact makes them trust you and allows them to be more open and they become a little more willing to listen. All of these efforts help to break down the barriers that your prospects may have at first.

Social Media Managers maintain the pages to keep reminding old and current customers, fans and clients of your presence as well as attracting new customers, fans and clients with giveaways, research interest polls, post interesting facts and special promotions, and service the accounts at all times. With so many different social networking sites out there, hiring a SM Manager is a great option since they are right on the pulse of every change, every trend and everything to do with your business, service and/or industry. This allows them to keep your company one step ahead of the competition at all times. Regardless of the size of your company, niche or service, a SM Manager can help you to make your business part of the growing world of social media and provide your growing consumer base with a point of contact that fits into their everyday life.

Karriann Graf is a Social Media Manager/Strategist for small businesses and real estate professionals. Her focus is to help you learn about the best Social Media methods to connect with your clients and customers and increase your revenue.

Saturday, 14 January 2012

How to Become a Social Media Manager - The Hottest Job in 2010

Social media manager? Yes, the most in demand job in the world right now. Why? Well, it's actually a new job title that was not around a few years ago. According to Inc. magazine, 91% of all businesses are attempting to use social media to promote themselves in 2010.

Why are businesses using social media? Because the outdated methods of advertising are simply not working any more. So businesses are moving their advertising budgets to social media and managers. Is it working? Yes, a survey says that 85% of businesses surveyed said social media created a positive return on investment and a buzz for their business.

Most business owners don't understand how this new advertising works or how to use it to effectively grow their business. More importantly, they don't have the time to do it. So, that's where social media managers have come on the scene. Experts are estimating the demand for social media managers may be as high as 10,000 to 1. That sounds like pretty good odds, right?

The great part about learning is it takes less time than you think. You can become trained in a weekend and you need no prior formal training. Better yet, you can do this from the comfort of your own home and be your own boss. Most of it could actually be done from your cell phone, so you can be out doing other things while you are making money.

So, you are probably wondering how much can you make? The median rate right now is around $38,027 a year. Not bad in this economy. Businesses would gladly pay $500-$1000 per month for you to keep them from being killed by the competition. You would only need a few clients to make a full time income.

You could start part-time and not have to quit your day job to make some extra money or acquire more clients and eventually work full time. In this video I'm going to share with you, Kate Buck shows you how she is making $10,000 a month part time from home (85% of it from her cell phone) so she can still have time to spend with her kids. She will shorten your learning curve and help you avoid making the mistakes she first made when she started out.

As you know, in business, it's all about timing. Now is the time to learn how to become a social media manager and cash in on this new wave of business. Right now, while the supply is still much less than the demand, you can make some good money in this job. All you need is an internet connection and the proper training. Learn how to become a social media manager like Kate Buck.