violet by ~NadyaKalinina on deviantART

Although there is a debate as to when the term viral marketing really originated, it did rise in popularity in the mid to late 90′s. Viral marketing works just like a virus. One person reads a marketing message, gets infected by it and passes it onto another person. The better the message, the more it spreads. And the term viral marketing is born!

There are many methods and techniques for spreading your viral marketing message. The explosion of social media marketing has brought viral marketing to new heights. But along with social media there are also more traditional ways to spread your marketing virus. Below are ten totally doable ways to launch and propel your viral marketing campaign.

1. Free eBook – eBooks have been a very popular and effective means of viral marketing for quite some time. Compile a free PDF eBook using articles you have written, useful information, resources, etc., and start spreading that virus. Offer the eBook to your visitors for free. Write a message inside encouraging them to give the eBook to their visitors and so on and so on. Submit the eBook to free eBook sites and directories. Add a link to the eBook in your email sigtag. The better the content of the eBook the more the “virus” will spread.

If you feel that you cannot write your own eBook, there are a lot of PLR and rebrandable eBooks you could use to achieve the same results.

2. Newsletters - If you publish a newsletter, you can use that to increase your viral marketing. Make it easy for people to share it with others. Encourage your subscribers to forward a copy to their friends so they can subscribe. Offer a free gift to the subscribers who can get the most people to subscribe.

3. Articles – Writing and submitting articles can be one of the most powerful viral marketing techniques. This will be most likely happen only if your article is well-written and contains helpful, useful information. Do not try to pass off a long sales pitch as an article. Submit your article to quality sites that allow visitors to reprint the article with your resource box. Add a Send to a Friend link in your resource box. When possible, thank the person for reprinting your article and let them know of any other articles you might have. Compile a list of newsletter publishers who accept article submissions. There are countless ways to spread your quality articles and infect many people.

4. Social Media – Social media has the capabilities of expanding your viral marketing to new heights. Try to regularly participate in at least the top three social sites which are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. A newcomer that is rising in popularity very fast is Pinterest so I would recommend starting with that one as well. When used effectively, these social media sites allow you to spread your virus in ways that were not before possible.

5. Blogging – Blogging is a form of social media marketing and can do wonders for your viral marketing. A quality blog will pull in many readers on a regular basis. Make it easy for your readers to interact with comments and opinions. Update your content consistently and always respond to reader comments for more success.

6. Tell-A-Friend - A free tell-a-friend script is a handy thing to have on your site or blog. It allows people to send your webpage to anyone they think would be interested thus launching your viral marketing. The easier it is for people to share your message the more your virus will spread.

7. Social Media Share Buttons – These highly effective buttons allow your visitors to easily share your blog, site or information with all their social media followers and friends. You can find many options for free that have these buttons for many of the social media sites. The first site to come up for some of these options is ShareThis.

8. Videos – Over two million people watch YouTube videos each day so getting your marketing video visible to this massive audience will pump up your viral marketing. You can also post video clips on your site with a well-spoken marketing message or demonstration. Make it easy for people to pass on your video to their friends and followers.

9. Word-of-Mouth – Word of mouth is one of the oldest forms of viral marketing. It was around long before the internet was ever dreamed of. It is also one of the most effective because people are passing on your message to people they know and their opinion is probably taken with more approval and consideration. It can also be more difficult because it requires people to take a more involved action than clicking a button. Make your customers feel happy and satisfied and they will spread the word (or virus).

10. Email - Email is one of the more traditional online viral marketing methods. How many times have you received emails that have been forwarded to you by people you don’t even know? That is the power of viral. Don’t be afraid to ask people to forward your emails to everyone they know. Sending out emails of value, quality and usefulness just might cause a widespread infection!

The power of viral marketing is unlimited but your marketing “virus” needs to be unique, useful, entertaining and powerful. People will not spread something that is not worth spreading. Study marketing tactics of other companies but try to develop your own unique idea or twist of an old idea, that no one else has used before. Develop a new virus for which there is no cure!

You know you should listen to your customers and you are aware that social media has been the new way for people to express their opinions about products and services. But what are the platforms available and what are the differences between each one of them? Here is a quick guide for you:

FACEBOOK

What it is: It is the most popular social network with over 800 million users. People usually build profiles to keep in touch with family and friends. Lately it has been used by businesses as a marketing tool. On Facebook people can send and receive messages, chat online, post pictures and share links and videos. They can also “like” a page. There are six types of pages: local businesses, companies, products, artists, entertainment and community. Facebook offers many options to interact such as the Wall, photo albums, comments space and the “like” button, where people click if they like the comment or post. If users don’t like something or someone, they have the option of blocking the person’s updates or deleting the person from their profile.

What do you need to know: Facebook is a great way to generate customer loyalty and there are many ways to do it. But because it’s a very personal network, people don’t appreciate when businesses overload their pages with information or un-wanted promotions and they usually block the pages if that happens. The best way to increase interaction is by sharing useful content, asking customers’ opinions and giving quick answers – Facebook users really expect you to reply A.S.A.P. In other words, show you care about them and they’ll care about you.

Vocabulary you need to know:

Wall - page where people post and receive comments;

NewsFeed – page where Facebook shows the users what is going on with friends and pages they like. It shows popular posts first and then most recent ones.

TWITTER

What it is: It is a platform that shows real-time updates. On Twitter you can choose which updates you want to see and you can also use the search engine to look up other people’s updates on a specific subject. Businesses can use Twitter to inform about their products and services and to see what people are saying about them. Twitter was created in 2006 as a texting program and grew to be the only real-time information platform in the world.

What do you need to know: Twitter is a great way to spread the word about your business. People sign up for it to get news before anyone else – so make sure you post there first. Many times, news was on Twitter before it appeared on big media channels such as CNN. Twitter updates can be only 140 characters long.

Vocabulary you need to know: Twitter has a very particular vocabulary. Users are called Tweeters and are divided in two categories:

Followers – people that see your updates, and Following – people that you choose to see updates from. Also, the updates – or the things you write – are called tweets.

FOURSQUARE

What it is: It is the first location based platform for mobile devices (smart phones, iPods, iPads). It is not as popular as Facebook and Twitter, but it has been growing fast. People use it to “check-in” at places and to show their friends where they are. They can also leave comments and reviews about the place they are at.

What do you need to know: Foursquare offers many tools to attract customers to your venue and it is a great opportunity for a business to grow loyalty and to get new customers. Facebook has a similar feature (Facebook Places) but FourSquare lets customers write reviews right away and search for places nearby. Businesses can use FourSquare to give away coupons, prizes and virtual badges, making the whole experience feel like a fun game. The platform offers a dashboard (a data report) where you can see when and how many people went to your place.

REVIEW WEBSITES (Yelp, Google+, Urbanspoon, TripAdvisor, Superpages, Yahoo! Local, MerchantCircle)

What it is: Websites that provide information about a business, including location, hours of operations, amenities and customer reviews. Each website has different features but they are all very similar in content.

What do you need to know: Review websites are really important for businesses. Google revealed that 97% of customers look online for a new place to go. And they are influenced by other people’s opinion. So make sure you monitor every website and respond to each bad review you get with an explanation. Customers really appreciate it when a businesses’ owner takes the time to do it.

GOOGLE+

What it is: It is the newer social network out there. It’s still in beta phase (a testing period) but it promises wonders. There has been a lot of talk about Google’s new platform but the network was opened to the general public in late September/2011. It is very similar to Facebook but it’s evolved around Google tools.

What do you need to know: Nothing yet. Google+ just launched its Business pages and while big brands and professionals are crazy about it, customers are not there yet. Keep one eye on it too. It could become a powerful network once it incorporates all Google services.

Experts squawk about Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, YouTube, designing websites, and a whole litany of online and social media possibilities, but not all of them make sense for every single business. When it comes to local advertising, small business owners must seriously consider how to concentrate their efforts. While we all must utilize the internet and social media to some extent, what will be most effective for one owner, may be a waste of time for another. By reflecting on some key issues, devising a successful local advertising strategy becomes less about what everyone else says and more about what you truly want and need.

Before you embark upon any online advertising initiatives, you must decide whether you are going to do it yourself, delegate someone in house, or out source it. All of these are perfectly valid options, but you need to consider whether you have the technical expertise, time, and money to support your decision, whatever it happens to be. Initially, it may be difficult for you to gauge your resources and exactly what this undertaking will require. Defining what you hope to achieve with your online presence may clarify things.

We are conditioned to believe expansion and growth is always the desired outcome, but local businesses can also remain a certain size and be quite successful. Are you focused on growing your business, maintaining your current client base, or both? Do want to provide basic information, foster interaction, launch a new but related enterprise, or all of the above? Take a moment to quantify the current state of your business and articulate your true feelings about it. Next, envision where you would like your business to be this time next year. If the tomorrow you dream about looks a lot like today, that is perfectly alright, but then you will fashion an online presence that supports that goal and not one that strives for something you do not want and cannot manage.

Before you establish your accounts, build your sites, and fill out profiles, explore your options by tooling around, and imagining how you would use it to bolster your business. What would you actually enjoy doing, and would your clients respond to it? Twitter is an excellent example of a social media tool that can be an amazing way to cultivate a relationship with new and existing clients. It requires a certain level of commitment, however, if you expect it to help your business. Are you willing to put the time in or would it simply be another chore? Would your tweets be purely professional and, if so, what would they say? Do you see your clients following you, responding, and retweeting your updates? If you can imagine a Twitter presence that adds to your professional life, by all means, tweet away. If, however, it seems extraneous or just does not seem like a good fit, then right now, Twitter is not for you and there are plenty of other online outlets for local advertising.

Some aspects of your business’s online presence are non-negotiable. At this point, every local business should have a website. How complex or sophisticated that website is, however, can vary. At the very least, it should provide critical details such as a description of your business and contact information. On the other end of the spectrum, your website could also host a blog, a library of information, links to other resources and articles, staff bios, and more. If it is exciting to you and makes sense for you business, then make it happen. A well-crafted online presence will pay off, but only if you care enough to invest in it properly.

Facebook is quickly becoming a non-negotiable component for small businesses, as well, in part because it is projected to have 1 billion users by August 2012. A large segment of those users are turning to Facebook instead of Google when searching for services and products. It also has taken the concept of word of mouth to another level. Everyone has a vast network of friends, family, and colleagues to either recommend or enquire about businesses. Just like with your website, however, your Facebook page can be as simple as you want, but keep in mind that local companies who make the most of what it has to offer are seeing results. By interacting with their current customer base, they are fostering a sense of community and loyalty. An active presence also means they are more likely to be noticed by familiar friends and new acquaintances alike.

Review sites are another part of the internet that you cannot opt out of, and you ignore at your own peril. Sites such as Yelp and Citysearch provide an independent space for your clients to submit feedback, both positive and negative. Since it is all user generated content, you cannot remove yourself from these sites, but they usually provide a forum for you to respond to reviews and report ones that violate the site’s guidelines. By being an active participant, you can monitor and manage your reputation. You can also gain valuable insight into your business that helps identify sources of professional pride and areas for improvement. Like Facebook, review sites are often a deciding factor when it comes to patronizing a business, and being highly rated and recommended can be a significant boon.

As you can see, you cannot escape local advertising through social media and the internet, and, if you are willing to invest the time and energy, you can make a tremendous difference in shaping your online presence. At the end of the day, however, small business owners should be focused on their business and not preoccupied with following every social media trend, especially those that are not right for them. Before you dedicate resources to a facet of online advertising, take a moment to carefully consider what makes sense for your business. After all, you know it best, and advertising should be a reflection of your business’s true nature and an investment in its future, whatever that might be.

Some fundraisers are just TOO important to ignore.  My neighbor and friend of my daughter Laila, Owen, and his two brothers, Casey and Jackson (triplets) come from a hard working family who donate much of their time to special kids like their awesome son Owen.

Please take a minute to read about Owen HERE – whatever you can do to help affects the lives of many kids out there with special needs.

Owen has been through an awful lot in his nine years. But for six of his nine years, he’s run the Rock and Roll Half Marathon to raise money for special kids like him. We’re just a couple weeks away and halfway to our fundraising goal. Won’t you help him out?

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/mike-mather/owenruns

Let me just blow your mind: there is a mobile marketing revolution going on. A startling statistic came out recently: some 70% of Americans own smart phones. That means nearly 70% of people in the United States are tapped into information and internet sources at all times. Given the fact that our phones are now running our lives, businesses need to make sure they are responding accordingly. With a mobile strategy every company will see a future and here are some tips in implementing your own strategy:

Make Your Site Mobile Capable

The first step in having a comprehensive mobile strategy is to configure your site so that it can be indexed correctly. If you configure your site correctly, it can be searched on Google’s mobile search engine. Make sure that your DTD (Doc Type Definition) is declared. Check that the mobile-friendly URLs’ DTD declaration is formatted appropriately as XHTML Mobile or Compact HTML. Then again, just having your site set up correctly does not mean it will be seen on Google. If your site hasn’t been crawled by Googlebot-Mobile yet, then you need to create a Mobile Sitemap and submit it. But before you send it off to Google, make sure that the Googlebot-Mobile can access your site by selecting ‘any User-Agent can access the site.’

List Your Company on Mobile Apps

For most companies, mobile applications are nearly free advertising. With popular apps like FourSquare, Yelp, and Foodspotting, mobile phone users can find great new restaurants and stores on the go. It is important to note, however, that the average mobile user will be more likely to choose a new location with multiple good reviews. Therefore, make sure that your mobile strategy includes ways to get more reviews from those loyal customers that know and love you. Not having a mobile presence that looks good is like wearing lots of makeup and a miniskirt while watching Saturday Night Live at home alone. What’s the point of making the best shish kebabs in town if people are going to your competitors just because they have a mobile presence?

Make Your Own Mobile App

A lot of storefronts, small businesses, and restaurants have increased revenues based purely on a strong mobile app strategy. By creating an app, a company can provide more services to their current customers, possibly gain new customers, and even make revenue (if charging). Another benefit of creating your own app is that it gives you an excuse to partner with other companies and to potentially offer joint promotions and target the same demographic together… say what? Yes, a strategic partnership.

Get Helpful Apps on Your Mobile Device

Half of the battle of any good social media and SEO strategy is being updated on what is happening in your industry. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn mobile apps enable users to constantly know what is happening in the world while staying connected to their audience.

Going to a huge conference? Why not tell everyone in your network what the major speakers are wearing, and what the coolest gadgets are, while pretending to be listening to a lecture. Your social media apps will allow you to provide minute to minute updates further extending your expertise and knowledge of your industry. Just be careful not to share too much or share things that might be too personal since this may ultimately work against you.

One more benefit of using mobile apps at events: you don’t have to talk to anyone at events at all anymore! There is plenty you can share behind the veil of the internet, so you can be busy the whole conference and never have to worry one bit if you have bad breath, if your comb-over is off balance, or if you will say something awkward to someone!

Implement a SMS/Mobile Marketing Platform Strategy

If you haven’t heard of Jed Alpert or Mobile Commons you don’t know enough about mobile strategies. In a nut shell, Jed and his team have created a mobile platform that allows companies to have a ‘conversation’ with their audience. mCommons, as they call it, allows companies to, “Send organizational communications and breaking news, offer coupons, deliver urgent health information, and much, much more.”

I could give you more information but that takes up space so check it out yourself. Companies that have a little extra dough for personalized marketing strategies will come to love Mobile Commons and their innovative concepts and ideas. Because people sign up themselves, they are more likely to continue to engage with your company. Imagine that. A platform where people actually want to hear what you have to say. Check them out and other SMS platforms that will let you reach your target audience and have a conversation with them all from a quick ‘SEND’ button.

So there you have it…

There are many different types of mobile marketing strategies that will aid you with branding, leads, important data, and opportunities for distraction. In a nation where mobile devices are being bought like sausages in a depression, there is never enough mobile marketing opportunities to investigate and implement. Pick the strategy or a combination that best suit your company’s needs and reach people-on-the-go. People carry their phones in pockets and purses right next to their cash and credit cards. Get into their mobile and get closer to their money.

From: BackgroundCheck.org

As a small business owner, you probably know that writing is a key component of marketing. However, only writing an article and submitting it to as many article directories as you can isn’t enough. Here are ten more ways to build more traffic to get better results:

1. Offer to Write Guest Blog Posts

Many blog owners are actively looking for guest bloggers. You can research blogs in a directory like Technorati or go to Blogger Linkup that can connect you with blogs looking for a guest blogger.

2. Blog Communities

Examples of Blog Communities that you can submit your blog to include MyBlogLog, Blogged, BlogCatalog and NetworkedBlogs. The search engines will index your blog faster because these blog communities have great search engine ranking.

3. Blog Directories

Blog Directories are great places to submit your blog to. The advantage of this is that more people will find you since the blogs are listed by category. Technorati is a great blog directory, but you can find more doing a search in Google.

4. Submit to Document Sharing Sites

Document sharing sites are often totally overlooked by the small and home business owner. Examples are Scribd, Issuu or Docshare, each with great search engine ranking. You will have to make your article into a PDF document for this.

5. Feed Directories

You should also submit your blog’s RSS feed to Feed Directories. Here are some good free ones: Feedage, Feedraider, GoldenFeeds, BlogDigger, RssMountain, RssMicro.com, RssMotron.com, Technorati.com and IceRocket.

After you submit your feed once, these directories should keep track of your new posts, and will index them.

6. Pinging Sites

Because pinging your site is very important if you want the search engines to index you and give you those coveted top positions, you need to do it every time you update your blog. By default, WordPress pings your blog to one pinging site every time you update. This can work against you as it pings after you edit as well, making it appear you are pinging unnecessarily. I found a great plugin that can stop this from happening. You can set it to ping every time you update your blog or to ping once every fifteen minutes, thereby safeguarding you from getting blocked by search engines for pinging too often.

7. Social Media Sites

If you sign up for a social media site such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube, use your blog name as your username. This will also help your blog get indexed quickly.

Share your blog posts on your social media sites to invite comments and retweets which will help your search engine ranking. You can make this process automatic through services such as Onlywire or Scoop.it if you curate as well.

8. Social Bookmarking Sites

Social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit and Delicious can also help to give you more traffic back to your website. Onlywire also automates this process.

9. Blog Broadcasts

Add your blog links to your autoresponder and invite your subscribers to comment on them.

10. Offer to write for Ezines and Associations

You can offer to write for ezines and associations in your niche. You can also use the search engines for this.

Remember: content is king. If you apply all these strategies and your content is poor, everything will just be a waste of time. You also need to post daily so that people who want to read more from you can keep coming back for more.

We all want to get more traffic to our websites and blogs and free traffic exchange programs seem to be any easy way to accomplish this goal.

What is a traffic exchange program? You sign up for the program and submit your site. Your site is added to the loop of many other sites. You are required to browse all these sites to accumulate credits. These credits will dictate how many times your site is included in the loop and viewed by others. That is the basic idea of the programs.

There is a lot of controversy out there as to whether these programs work or not. Some people will advise you not to use them and some will recommend them. I have used them in the past but found I did not have the time to surf the sites for hours to get a few credits. For those of you who have not yet used one be sure to check them out thoroughly and read the info below.

The Good

1. More Traffic – They definitely can bring you more traffic. Whether or not this is quality traffic is a subject of debate.

2. Increase Your Networking – You are exposed to other online businesses with which you can network and become connected. With an increased network come the chances of growing your business.

3. Make a Little Money – You can make cash when you refer others to join with your link. If these people upgrade to a paid membership you will receive a small commission.

4. Free – Most of the traffic exchange programs will have a free version with a paid upgrade membership. If you just want free traffic, this is one way to get it.

The Bad

1. Poor Conversion Rates – Although these programs can bring you fast traffic, people have found out that this traffic is not easily converted into sales.

2. Wasted Time – Having to surf all those websites to earn credits can waste precious hours of your time. You are required to stay about 20 seconds on each site so you can do the math to see that it would take hours just to get a good amount of credits.

3. Wasted Effort – As online business owners, we all know how valuable our time is and how much work we have to do in that time. Many people feel that because of the poor quality of traffic and the large amount of time needed to earn credits,
participating in these programs is not worth the effort.

The Ugly

1. Cheating – Unfortunately in an effort to get something for nothing, many people have found a way to cheat with these programs. This means even fewer people are seeing your site. There is software that will open the webpages and the person using that software will never see any of the sites. Try converting that into sales!

2. Viruses, Adware and Spyware, Oh My! – Because of the easy access for all to these programs it is quite possible to pick up viruses, adware and spyware. One program even had to shut down because of this problem.

So you see, as with anything there are pros and cons. You will need to do your research and decide if the pros are enough of a reward for all that time and work or if the cons are good enough reason to steer clear of these traffic programs.

Via: Online MBA Resource

Having a great social life these days is, in many ways, easier than ever before. With so many powerful and dynamic social media outlets available for business and personal use, friendships and business relationships are easier to cultivate than ever. Connecting with people around the world through Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube is as easy as connecting with people in your neighborhood.

Changes to How We Socialize

Definitions of what a social life is, have changed as the Internet has grown and evolved. While some people bemoan the less personal nature of socializing online, others argue that many social network connections eventually lead to face-to-face meetings and real relationships. With the availability of Skype video calls, face to face connections can even happen from across the globe.

Social Media: Ideal for Business

When it comes to business connections, the personal nature of the relationship tends to be secondary to the business focus of the connection. In this way, social media is an ideal tool for wide-scale social networking and marketing. Creating your own mobile app is a great way to connect with consumers and partner businesses, but you should also work in the most popular social channels available.

Also, since most social media channels are free or inexpensive, these tools are available for any size business, no matter how small. In many ways, the Internet and social media have leveled the playing field for small businesses, allowing them the same tools and opportunities to compete in a global marketplace as the largest companies.

How can social media be used to maximize benefits in your business? Here are some guidelines:

It’s All About Relationships

First and foremost, use social media to form genuine connections with your customers and potential customers. Engage your followers by responding to their posts, tweets and comments. Show a genuine interest and they’ll return the sentiment — and will probably tell others about your business. As detailed in Google’s ZMOT macro study, 19 percent of shoppers engage in sharing and social behavior when deciding what to buy and where to buy it. 14 percent of users engage in mobile behaviors, like using their smartphone to find directions or search for a product, during that same stage.

Create a Buzz

Social media is an excellent way to keep your followers, customers and fans engaged with all the latest about your business. Are you launching a new product, doing a media event or opening a new location? Make sure to spread the word about upcoming events through social media.

Is anything about your business related to a current newsworthy event or trend? You can make, strengthen and enhance that connection by talking about it on social media. Have an idea for a clever YouTube video related to your business? If it’s within your budget, create it and post to your YouTube channel. Be sure to link to it via all your other social media outlets. If it strikes a chord with the public, it could even go viral.

Build Your Brand

As your community of social media friends and followers grows, so will your credibility. Stay tuned into what people are saying about you. If you ever start to get feedback that doesn’t reflect your brand or mission statement, make the necessary adjustments so that public sentiment about your brand will change accordingly. When you’re trying to increase interaction with your brand, you want to become part of the conversation, not redirect it to your company. Remember, people have priorities apart from your products, so make the conversation about who your consumers are and what they feel.

Even when you’re posting on the company blog, write your posts for your customers, not at them. Don’t tout your latest product as the greatest thing since sliced bread; instead, answer their questions and teach them more about your industry. Give customers insight into your company and how it works. Create videos showcasing your company’s office culture, interview employees and have people from a different department write a post for your blog every month–or every week–to let consumers see more of your company and connect on a personal level.

Stay Engaged in a Positive Way

All great relationships are built on trust and quality communication. Always stay genuine and respectful in your social media conversations. Cultivate and craft relationships naturally, never in an overbearing or heavy-handed way. Allow your social media relationships to grow and unfold organically. Online social influence on purchasing has increased by 19 percent in the past year, and it’s showing no sign of stopping.

The more you engage with consumers socially, through Facebook, Google+, Twitter and your company blog, the more connection you’ll build. The increase in social’s importance means that the benefits you see in the near future will only increase in the long run. Follow these basic steps, and not only will your relationships thrive — your business is likely to benefit as well.