Consumers no longer sit still and absorb your marketing. They are on the move and they are connected. They want direct access and interaction with your business. They are mobile and social. Leverage that combination in your marketing strategy.

Creating a mobile or social media marketing strategy can be exactly the tipping point your business needs in 2009. Consumers are increasingly mobile and socially connected. Consumers are constantly connected with friends, family, and community–make sure that is how you connect too.

Mobile Marketing

The cell phone is the average American’s constant companion. So much so it seems more likely to walk out of the house without your pants than your mobile phone.

In fact a growing number of consumers are abandoning their home and office phone for a mobile only lifestyle. This is a great opportunity for creative mobile marketing strategies.

John Edwards used mobile marketing at political rallies you capture opt-in text messaging numbers. He would hold up his mobile phone and ask everyone to text a specific number to sign-up for campaign updates. That is just one of many emerging mobile marketing concepts engaging consumers:

* Sports networks are using it to update you on your favorite team
* T-shirt and bumper stickers are displaying text codes for promos
* Realtors are using it on For Sale Signs
* Cable news networks are using it to take real-time surveys and polls

Getting in the mobile marketing game is critical to your business, regardless of the size.

Social Media

Like mobile marketing, social media is becoming a required tool in your marketing kit. The Internet is becoming a seamless part of not only our workflow, but also our lifestream. Every moment of many of the most attractive consumer segments are spent connected. Connect not only to the Internet, but also to their social networks.

Like the Clue Train Manifesto, a prophetic book about the coming of Web 2.0, predicted markets are becoming conversations. If you are not in these conversations you are losing opportunities.

Your marketing plan need to include social networking and social media. Building an audience is important. You need to meet and activate your community where they are–Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Putting it Together for PR & Branding

Of course mobile marketing and social media are unlikely to give you results without a plan–objectives that build your PR and branding. Start by planning your core messages and perceptions you want to build in the market. Which lets you fully leverage these emerging marketing opportunities.

Bill Rice
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/pump-up-your-sales-with-mobile-and-social-media-marketing-738329.html

Today the Internet is swept by social media. If you are not familiar with social media you will be after you read this article about legitimate work from home opportunities being created right in front of your eyes!

Social media can be any thing to include blogging, discussion forums, video, audio, RSS feeds, podcasting, social networking, social bookmarking, social directories, and so on. Every one of these presents an possiblity for you to make money working from home if you do it correctly.

A lot of people get hung up on the fact that they do not know how to get started working from home. This is a well known problem, but can be solved very easily if you enter the affiliate marketing arena.

Affiliate marketing gives you the possibility to get paid selling other people’s products or services. As an affiliate you are given everything from the merchant you represent to be successful. They will provide you with products or services, marketing materials, training, websites and back end support in the form of customer service.

Your imagination is really the only limitation in your ability to create legitimate work at home utilizing social media and affiliate marketing. There is an excellent chance that tomorrow someone will invent a new way to make money combining these two things.

Let’s say, for example, that you want to make money as an affiliate marketer by starting your very own blog. Here are several ways you could monetize your blog and make it more interesting with social media.

One thing you can do is put an RSS feed button at the top of your blog where people can find. This allows your audience to subscribe to your feed and to be notified automatically every time you make a new post.

This is the best way to build an email list of people to keep in touch with you without dealing with spam issues that have plagued email marketing in the past.

People like razzle dazzle and an exciting blog is one that contains videos, graphics, and is very interactive with its readers. You can involve your reader by allowing them to vote in polls in the form of surveys, or to post comments on your blog articles.

The way to make money with this is to put banners to the affiliate products you represent right on the blog itself. Every time somebody clicks on one of these banners and purchases a product or service you earn a check.

Learning more about social media and how it can create legitimate work from home business opportunities for you is definitely something to look more into.

Elmar Sandyck
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/social-media-is-creating-legitimate-work-at-home-opportunities-688080.html

The astute and very pleasant Direct Sales Consultant, known by the handle The Traveling SalesWoman, asked the following question of me?
You were the person who encouraged me to join Twitter, and I’m so grateful for that!  Can you share some further thoughts about Twitter and why home party business owners should join in that conversation?

Are you are brothers and sisters fan?  If so you have not missed the obvious connection between Sarah Walkers’ Greenotopia company and its’ many references to social networks and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter!

And if you don’t know by now, you are no-one if you are not on twitter.  I was amused to find that my vocabulary  has changed considerably over the past year!

I am  Youtubing, plurking, Facebooking, tweeting, blogging, linking, MySpacing, texting and a host of other things too!  All these are some of the most popular social media sites and as you can see things can get pretty hairy, so I definitely recommend that you have a social media system.

Direct Sales Home Party Marketing Tip: Any task you do more than once NEEDS a procedure, system or checklist!

Before Bill Gates, no one had a personal computer!   One man single handedly revolutionized the world with a dream…his dream was that every home would have a computer!  His dream was to provide value to every single household in the world!

Even after Bill Gates created such an incredible tool, that gave rise to the Internet, Easy Online access & E-Commerce; it STILL amazes me just how many people refuse, are afraid and/or have not taken advantage of the power of the computer and the Internet! Computers as far as I am concerned are the best social media tools (of course for the obvious reason without one you cannot access social media ?, yep)!

I told the travelling saleswoman that social media and social networks are all about relational capital.  And like any thing social media marketing is an art form. The question I often get asked by home party consultants and direct sales reps. Is why don’t they buy my product.  The answer is simple, you have written a check, which came back with the red stamp mark, insufficient funds! (thanks Martin Luther King Jr. for that one).

You see people buy because:

i)    they know you,
ii)    they trust you
iii)   they believe that you have the solution the problem which the face and
iv)   for status

People don’t buy a product, nor do they buy a feature and the benefits are as they are decided upon by the story they tell themselves.   Your juice drink mwy help me loose weight.  But the story I am telling myself is that I am going to look sexy, finally that size 0 pair of jeans that I have seen on display for a year will be mine.  I am going to get hit on by men….you get the picture?  So if your pitch is not in line with my story…

How does all this fit into social media and social marketing?  Simple, you are building relational capital, by depositing in the bank of getting to know you, getting to know all about you!  And you are not only doing it with one person, no you are reaching out to many in one shot!

There are people on these sites that follow you, there are those that interact with you and those that want to see what you are about.  The cool thing about social outlets is that you are King and Queen of your own little internet real estate  King/Queendom!

Social media and social marketing is all about building that relational capital that gives you the all access pass to make your direct sales pitches to those who are ready, able and willing to hear what you have to say, and have the money to spend on what you have to sell.  Do not under-estimate the power of relational capital! 

How else do you think Pres. Barack Obama did it?  I will be holding a special in a week or so about “the Pres. Obama Social Media Effect : How You Too Can Go From Zero To Hero!

For more on social media, and how to use it effectively, just google “social media blog!”

Patricia Kagwiria Makhulo
http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/direct-sales-home-party-plan-marketing-information-how-can-social-media-benefit-my-business-735380.html

Popularity is not being part of the crowd.  This is very true when it comes to business.  Using these three simple guidelines you can stand out and gain attention.  After all, the only way to be heard is first to be noticed.

Picture yourself walking down a street.  There are a lot of people.  Everyone has a cellphone.  They are all dressed the same and their eyes are only focused on where they are headed.  Suddenly you spot a lady wearing a red dress singing at the top of her voice.  At the same time you see heads turning up.  Who in that crowd has the attention?

Of course, I’m not advocating that you post pictures of yourself wearing a red dress.  If you do, that’s OK.  Just make sure to wear some sensible shoes.  I hear high heels are hard to walk in!

Ha ha, very funny.  Still, that really is what you want to do.  In the social environment you want to be noticed.  And it only makes sense, don’t do what everyone else is doing.  So, these are the 3 social media guidelines to get you noticed:

1) Educate People

In his amazing course, Magnetic Sponsoring, Mike Dillard talks about selling a drill.  If you have never been exposed to Magnetic Sponsoring I highly recommend at least picking up the 7 free videos.  In it we learn that the easiest way to sell a drill is by first teaching how to make a hole.  This alone changed my whole way of thinking.  Doesn’t it make sense?  Nobody begins by needing a drill.  What they need is a hole!  And at some point they were taught that the easiest way to make a hole is by using a drill.  Often, the most profound things in life are also the simplest.

Everyone loves those aha moments.  I know I do.  And most people would rather learn how to do something than actually do it.  So, what if you have nothing to teach?  Actually, you have lots that you can teach.  Well, what if you’re just having a bad day?  Things just aren’t clicking.  What then?  Just use a quote!  Everyone likes quotes.  Quotation marks just lend a feeling of importance.  Someone quoted them.  They must be important!  (Be sure to give credit when credit is due.)

2) Just Be Yourself

Believe it or not, people want to know you.  Creating a successful business requires that you build relationships.  Why do you think companies work so hard to brand themselves?  When I think about computers I don’t think about the Extreme Dimension 4200.  I think of Dell.  Who comes to mind when thinking of breakfast syrup?  Mrs. Butterworth.  Do you see what I’m getting at?

People need to know who you are.  They need to see that you are a real person.  They need to feel like you are friends.  The interesting thing is you don’t have to do much to create that feeling.  The only thing that matters is the perception.  When you are perceived as a real person, when you are perceived as someone that shares an experience, an instant bond is created.  Just be yourself and be genuine.

3) Create Some Kind Of Interaction

This really is the most important part of these 3 social media guidelines.  Most people like to be a part of something.  Whether it’s sharing some views or voting on a poll.  When you create interaction between members you are no longer in the social media, you ARE the social media.  Suddenly a nexus of activity forms and you are at the center.

Maybe I should have called this the 4 social media guidelines.  There’s one more thing to bear in mind.  “Out of sight, out of mind.”  Thomas Kempis wrote this.  The saying holds true for social media sites.  Remember to participate.  The more you are seen, the more people will be able to identify with you.  Often it takes at least 7 exposures to a product before someone will buy it.  The same goes for you as a person.

I hope these social media guidelines have helped.  Just remember, be a teacher, be yourself and be active.  In no time you will find yourself at the center of the social media community.

Vincent R. Parker
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/three-social-media-guidelines-to-stand-out-in-the-social-media-crowd-1271451.html

There have been many debates as to whether internet marketing services that use social networking and media sharing web sites to improve search engine optimization really work. Do they actually help your website gain improved search engine rankings? These all have been referred to by terms like social media, social media marketing, word of mouth marketing, buzz marketing and web 2.0. Social websites have become the latest craze on the internet and these terms have become the buzz words.

Social media websites and networking web sites offer the website owner a straightforward approach to bond with another community of people who have related points of views or interests like you. Some social networking websites group people with common interests, but some websites are “traditional networking sites” and allow you to search for friends based on your interests. So now how do these websites really operate. In websites like MySpace users share music which was what helped rocket MYspace into the well renown place it is today and in Facebook, users create their personal information that they want shared and use pictures, software programs and audio, videos to display or depict their business environment. In websites like Fastpitch, Joe Popular and Adlandpro the users create product and sale pitches and work with each other. Promotiing your website using these new tools is termed social media marketing.

How can you benefit and improve your search engine optimization ranking by using social media websites? When you use social media marketing and social networking , you have the opportunity to expose your website to a much larger group of people. When your site becomes popular in a social media site, people talk about your site and the post that becomes popular. This is a form of viral marketing that is word of mouth. The additional links means that as you grow these natural links from a large number of relevant websites, your rankings improve in the search engine due to increased organic search traffic.

Another advantage is that search engines programs that roam the web are keen on social media and networking websites and typically go after links on these websites. This means if you have your site link on social networking and bookmarking websites, your search engine optimization ranking is better and your website site will be indexed quickly. Getting bookmarked from different users and different social media websites will definitely help your site rank better on search engines.

Like it or not, social media websites have become an integral part of the internet because social marketing is easy to do, search engines love social links and hence your business by default will benefit. So if you are engaged in operating a website, and search engine optimization is important then you must realign your site to exploit the popular social media websites for increased traffic. To take advantage of this new method of building business you need to know what steps to perform? Well explore search engine optimization services. Also explore social media marketing and the difference to social networking websites.

Gregory Burrus
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-marketing-articles/social-media-marketing-as-a-web-site-marketing-strategy-will-improve-your-search-engine-optimization-389270.html

Social media strategies continue to prove their relevance in today’s Internet age, and as a result, the traditional online newsroom – a set of static Web pages that support one-way delivery of information that is protected by passwords and made available only to the likes of “official” journalists and industry analysts – is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Taking the place of these old-school information portals is the new social media newsroom, a more dynamic, open, and flexible Web-based newsroom that encourages broad, bi-directional communication and information sharing among a more diverse audience.

With the new social media newsroom, a company’s official content is easily accessible to not just members of the media, but to all those the company wishes to communicate and share information with, including prospects, customers, business partners, and investors.

These potential targets can subscribe to, review, and utilize timely and relevant news and other announcements from the organization’s public relations department, as well as related image, audio, video, and other multimedia files.

But what makes the approach of the new social media newsroom so innovative and unique?

The answer lies in is its ability to facilitate collaboration and direct conversation with the end information consumer.

While traditional online newsrooms allow for only one-way information flow, social media newsroom readers are encouraged to participate in open discussions and freely share their thoughts, feedback, and opinions about individual news releases and other available content.

These comments are posted directly to the newsroom, for all visitors to see and reply to. Additionally, any content within a social media newsroom can be easily tagged, emailed, or added to any social media book marking site such as Technorati, digg, or del.icio.us.

“Corporations are eager to participate in the Social Media era but are still evolving from a broadcast-oriented, one-to-many paradigm, towards a model in which they adapt to a new reality – their voice is just one-of-many,” states Todd.S. Defren, principal at Shift Communications, a fast-growing, high-tech public relations agency with offices in Boston and San Francisco.

Delivery of online content that is more targeted is yet another major benefit of the new social media newsroom. Instead of browsing through pages and pages of outdated or useless content to get to what they want – as is often the case with traditional online newsrooms – visitors of a social media newsroom can easily access, receive, or share only the information elements that are most important and relevant to their specific interests and needs.

The new social media newsroom also allows marketers to more effectively interact with those who directly influence consumer perceptions and preferences. For example, quotes and comments from various company spokespeople that are published in blogs and other social media vehicles can be publicly tracked and monitored, then posted to the social media newsroom. This allows journalists and other site visitors to understand the company’s position on important and frequently-discussed industry issues, and to see what type of impact the company has on content across the Web.

Those companies that develop their own social media newsroom should also consider creating a secure, password-protected micro-blog that can be easily added to an RSS reader. This would enable media representatives to preview on-going story ideas created by the company’s public relations department.

P. Headrick
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/inside-a-social-media-newsroom-132072.html

Social media optimization is the newest thing which is happening in the World Wide Web. Everything associated with the web is changing on a constant basis and to be attuned with the latest, one needs to know all about the latest happenings like social media optimization. The internet world is rapidly expanding these days and the due to this the way we communicate with people is also undergoing vast changes. Earlier after people left school, college or their birth city there was very little chance of getting in touch with family and friends who are associated with those places. Today that is no longer the case, all thanks to social media platform which in turn has given rise to social media optimization. Today, social media optimization has become the best means through which one can promote anything on the web.

Social media optimization ideally means promoting about something on all the social media platforms. Studies have found out the more then 70 percent of people those who surf the web regularly have an online profile on some social networking site or the other. So it makes sense if someone wants to promote about their things on all these social networking platforms and attract attention. The whole idea is to create a buzz on the web about the thing which you want the people to know. Naturally when a buzz is created everywhere, there will be lots of discussion and debate about that aspect and this is a very good means to become popular on the web without making extensive efforts.

Getting popularity is not an easy task and one needs to undertake lots of work and effort to make this a success. The business world is rapidly expanding and one needs to know all about the latest which is happening to become successful. One of the main things, which need to be done for successful social media optimization, is facilitating free travel of content on the web. Webmasters are always on the lookout for well written content and if you have really good content written on your site you can become popular very easily. Whenever someone uses the articles or content from your site, a link will of your site will be provided and this will make sure that more and more visit your site and you become popular.

The basic idea behind social media optimization is rather simple. You just need to implement certain things on your site which will make it more easily accessible to visitors at all social media platforms. Another means which can be implemented for social media optimization is through participating in all the discussions that are taking place on the web about the subject on which you are promoting. The web is populated with forums on anything and everything. The best part about talking part in these discussions is that even if there is no discussion taking place, you can very easily create a thread about the concerned subject and start the discussion. Social media optimization has huge scope and all you need to do is identify the proper method for doing this.

Steve Waganer
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/social-media-optimization-is-an-innovative-optimization-method-129671.html

As the prevalence of social media continues to rise, its use in a business environment is becoming just as important as its use in personal settings.

Organizations of all types and sizes are recognizing the ways in which social media can help them better understand, respond to, and attract the attention of their target audience.

As a result, businesses are now jumping on the social media bandwagon at a rapid pace, embracing blogs, social networks, wikis, and other vehicles to achieve their marketing and public relations goals.

What types of benefits can corporations achieve with an effective social media strategy?

* Get the Message Out Faster – and To More People

Social media enables more rapid sharing of information. It may take hours, or even days, for a new announcement to reach the end consumer through traditional channels. Why? Because when a press release is issued, a journalist or writer must first wade through all the sales and marketing lingo to find the key points. Then, the content must be re-purposed in article format, and sent it to an editor or proofreader before it is published.

Social media vehicles, on the other hand, allow for instantaneous dissemination of not just news, but images, audio, video, and other multimedia content as well. And because releases geared toward social media outlets contain only key highlights, pertinent facts, and hyperlinks to related statistics and quotes, the information they contain can be immediately picked up and posted by bloggers and other online journalists.

Social media also provides more widespread coverage, enabling breaking news to reach a much larger and broader reader base than standard media outlets alone.

While magazine readership and the number of available print publications continues to decline, the number of consumers using the Internet to access and share information continues to rise sharply. For example, one recent study showed that almost one out of every four Internet users – over 41 million people total in 2006 – visits MySpace on a regular basis.

* Improve Branding

Social media, and blogs in particular, can be a highly useful tool for enhancing both awareness and image. Blogging can help “spread the word” about a company, its products, and its services to more people, dramatically increasing brand recognition and awareness.

Additionally, social media can enable executives to gather input and feedback directly from their target audience, and use that intelligence for more effective reputation management. Insight into why people like – or hate – a brand is needed to help change and control audience perceptions and preferences.

* Boost the Impact of Direct Marketing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a key component of today’s direct marketing and lead generation strategies, and social media has proven its ability to significantly complement SEO initiatives.

Many social media techniques – such as frequent use of common jargon and key phrases, title tags, ticker symbols, and links to blogs and other relevant Web content – can help dramatically improve search engine rankings.

Additionally, while SEO relies on just a handful of popular search engines such Google and Yahoo to drive target prospects to a site, social media expands the potential audience by creating alternate channels.

For example, when content is published to a site, and that content is then linked to from del.icio.us or reddit, it can generate a tremendous boost in Web traffic. Many companies also find it much easier to generate compelling content that is likely to be picked up by bloggers, than it is to keep up with the “rules” required to rank high in today’s popular search engines.

P. Headrick
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/how-social-media-benefits-corporate-america-132097.html

The world of Socialized Media is maturing and along with it, our knowledge, expertise, reach, and personal and represented brands are only flourishing. It will continue as long as we realize that these new social tools and networks require an entirely new commitment and embodiment of what we personify and how we can be a genuine resource to the people who define the communities that are important to us.

At the end of the day, everything that’s transpiring around us is actually improving the existing foundation for our business, from service to marketing to product development to sales to executive management, and everything in between.
 
Social marketing revitalizes and empowers every facet of our workflow and its supporting ecosystem. Seeing the bigger picture and tying our knowledge to the valuable feedback from our communities will help us guide businesses towards visibility, profitability, relevance and ultimately customer loyalty.

Yes, everything is changing. Many have drawn the conclusion that Social Media marketers or Social Media consultants are to the new Web, what Webmasters were to Web 1.0. There’s a rush of excitement and enthusiasm tied to entrepreneurialism and significant short-term profitability in leading, creating, and participating in all things Social. This new breed of expert marketers represent the future of marketing communications indeed, but it is a future that is uncharted, undocumented and forever evolving; meaning, social media is not the final frontier, but merely an important chapter in an ongoing saga that will be studied and advanced for years to come.
 

For every Social Media expert, we must remember, that there are many more human beings out there who are not using social tools to communicate, but are still equally important to our bottom line. Therefore, our job is to connect our story and our value propositions to people wherever they go to discover and share information – even if it’s in the real world. Social Media is a critical part of a larger, more complete sales, service, communications, and marketing strategy that reflects and adapts to markets and the people who define them.
 
Therefore we should be realistic in how we integrate Social strategies into the human-powered machine of listening, learning, engaging and evolving.
 
Social Media is a lesson.
 
Social Media delivers new communications tools.
 
Social Media is a distribution channel.
 
Social Media is a means, not an end.
 
Social Media is a revelation that we the people have a voice and through the democratization of content and ideas, we can once again unite people around common passions, inspire movement, and ignite change.

Brian Solis

The world of Socialized Media is maturing and along with it, our knowledge, expertise, reach, and personal and represented brands are only flourishing. It will continue as long as we realize that these new social tools and networks require an entirely new commitment and embodiment of what we personify and how we can be a genuine resource to the people who define the communities that are important to us.

At the end of the day, everything that’s transpiring around us is actually improving the existing foundation for our business, from service to marketing to product development to sales to executive management, and everything in between.
 
Social marketing revitalizes and empowers every facet of our workflow and its supporting ecosystem. Seeing the bigger picture and tying our knowledge to the valuable feedback from our communities will help us guide businesses towards visibility, profitability, relevance and ultimately customer loyalty.

Yes, everything is changing. Many have drawn the conclusion that Social Media marketers or Social Media consultants are to the new Web, what Webmasters were to Web 1.0. There’s a rush of excitement and enthusiasm tied to entrepreneurialism and significant short-term profitability in leading, creating, and participating in all things Social. This new breed of expert marketers represent the future of marketing communications indeed, but it is a future that is uncharted, undocumented and forever evolving; meaning, social media is not the final frontier, but merely an important chapter in an ongoing saga that will be studied and advanced for years to come.
 

For every Social Media expert, we must remember, that there are many more human beings out there who are not using social tools to communicate, but are still equally important to our bottom line. Therefore, our job is to connect our story and our value propositions to people wherever they go to discover and share information – even if it’s in the real world. Social Media is a critical part of a larger, more complete sales, service, communications, and marketing strategy that reflects and adapts to markets and the people who define them.
 
Therefore we should be realistic in how we integrate Social strategies into the human-powered machine of listening, learning, engaging and evolving.
 
Social Media is a lesson.
 
Social Media delivers new communications tools.
 
Social Media is a distribution channel.
 
Social Media is a means, not an end.
 
Social Media is a revelation that we the people have a voice and through the democratization of content and ideas, we can once again unite people around common passions, inspire movement, and ignite change.

Brian Solis