There are some marketers that are quite sensitive when it comes to any foray into social media by Google. Google doesn’t have a great record for long term support of projects if they don’t grab everyone’s attention immediately, so there is a little resistance to Google+. The feeling in some quarters is simple enough – why expend energy if the whole concept quietly slips under the carpet in a year or two? Whilst I understand their feelings, I don’t think they are right this time; in fact, I think Google+ is here for the long haul.

One thing is certain, Google is still pumping resources into the project, and their latest offering for website owners includes functional and cosmetic changes to the Google+ button. These changes include:

• the ability to configure a badge to a suitable width
• changing the background color of a widget to match your page’s color
• including a widget that displays your Google+ profile’s circle count

As a marketing tool, website owners have nothing to lose by including a badge on their sites. According to an article on WebProNews, some businesses are receiving a 30% increase in followers simply because of the widget. If your content is of a reasonable standard, then you shouldn’t find it too difficult to encourage readers to click on social media buttons.  There’s no harm in inviting your readers to click on social media buttons – they are often sharing a good story with friends whilst bookmarking an entry for future reference.

When it comes to marketing, you need to use every tool that adds to your website’s exposure. Google+ looks to be one widget that’s here for the long run – are you badged yet?

What’s the one problem that every small business owners faces when it come to social media marketing? Time. There are just not enough hours in the day to manage a business, often work in the business, manage traditional marketing problems, and then manage a wide range of social media interactions. Having a Facebook page is becoming a must and for many businesses, a Twitter account as well. Google’s +1 will become a go-to place and for professionals; a profile on LinkedIn is also a big help. What’s really required is a comprehensive way to bring all four of those social media sites together, and that’s where Nimble comes to your rescue.

We’re currently putting Nimble through its paces, however, first impressions are positive. Nimble will solve some of your social media time problems since you can bring in your contacts from those four sites and review all of your interactions with those contacts. Having it all on the one page can reduce the time spent on social media by at least 50%, if not more.

Nimble is possibly one of the easiest yet comprehensive online CRM programs available. They seem to have thought of everything, even email and calendars. Personal users get one free account that comes with all the basics. Businesses can opt to pay $15 month to have multiple users and access to advanced features. There is plenty of help available including videos, which make it a lot easier to visually gain an insight into all the features.

The last word should be left to Nimble – they describe themselves as the all-in-one place where you can :

Unify all your contacts, calendars, conversations from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google. Monitor the most popular social networks from one screen, engage prospects, and build deeper relationships.

If time is your problem when attempting social media marketing, give Nimble a try; you may just find that you have plenty of time left for the other important areas of your business.

Bookmarking sites come and go fairly quickly. There are some that hang around for years, often going through popularity phases – StumbleUpon is a good example, people join up,then drift away, then return spasmodically to see if things have changed. Pinterest is the latest and while it is an ‘invite only’ site at present, is well worth checking out. You can request an invite, although the home page is rather off-putting, it looks more like a parked domain than a real website. However, once you open those doors, everything changes.

Pinterest is a virtual pin board complete with a browser ‘Pin it’ button for Firefox, ‘Pin it’ (and ‘follow me’) buttons  for websites, and an iPhone application. Find pictures, videos or web pages of interest and you can ‘pin’ them to your pin board – and you can have more than one pin board.  The pin board concept has a wide range of uses, to quote their help page:

People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.

Can businesses use Pinterest? This is one site that has definitely not been set up for commercial use. Self-promotion is frowned upon and users found guilty of promoting their businesses won’t last long. However, that doesn’t mean the service is totally out for businesses. Adding the ‘pin it’ buttons to your web site will invite visitors to add your pages to their pin boards. You can also have your own pin board where you can pin related content to your business. If you have the occasional page from your website pinned, for example an advice or recipe or how to page, then you shouldn’t have too many problems.

The feature that most businesses will find helpful is that pins can be shared between users and through Facebook and Twitter. Pins are also searchable through the search bar on Pinterest. It appears to bring the best of Stumbleupon and Facebook and is certainly well worth looking at, particularly those in service industries. It may not be for everyone, however, for a social media site that is invite only, it already has 4 million registered users – nowhere near Facebook or Twitter, but it could explode once the doors are opened. You can request an invite through Mashable’s pin page.

Social media, handled correctly, can take a small business and carry it towards success quite quickly. However, it’s a double-edged sword – handle it incorrectly and it can eventually kill off your business. Here are the top ten deadly sins that every business should avoid.

1. Not focusing on followers – your followers are the people who can make or break your business. If you focus on pushing out information based on what you want rather then what your followers are looking for, they will quickly desert you.
2. Ignoring feedback -this then follows on from not focusing on your followers. If you ignore feedback, then you won’t be providing your followers with what they want.
3. Ignoring questions – like feedback, if a follower has taken the time to ask a question, answer it. The question may seem trivial, yet to your followers it could be a very important question. When replying, keep the reply honest and to the point whilst never stooping to sarcasm or bringing the questioner down.
4. Pleasing everyone – it’s just not possible. You will never please all of the people all of the time. If you are not condescending, then you can please the majority, however, it’s how you handle the minority that will often determine your success.
5. Being in denial – are you the kind of person who denies everything? If a follower has a problem, don’t shift the blame onto them, even if they are to blame. You can be polite, or better yet, switch their focus from public to private, you are then handling the matter personally, and not in the public’s eye.
6. Overlooking the offline world – it’s fine being social on sites like Facebook, however, are you just as amiable in person? The offline market place can also be a valuable source of new followers. It seems that every brick and mortar business that has an online presence has also invited customers to join them in the social media environment.
7. Forgetting the media part of social media – if you work with other online users, for example, bloggers who regularly write about your products or websites, don’t ignore them. If you are about to have a product release, invite them in. They can quickly help to promote your new product or service. Ignore them and they are just as likely to go away, and for most businesses, you simply can’t afford that. Maintain those relationships.
8. Being a social media hopper – there are some website owners who seem to think that having a profile in a hundred places is going to be good for their business. The opposite is true, especially if your business details change. Google local is a great advance in search engine results. However, the results returned are often based on the information received from you. If you have 100 social media profiles and you change you business details, then the search engines may look at your profiles and become confused – this has led to businesses suddenly falling away in the search results.
9. Abandoning social media sites – there are countless businesses that have, over the years, set up profiles because the ‘site looked good’.  If the site disappoints, then they walk away and move onto the next site. An abandoned profile with irrelevant or out of date data is not a good look. A profile that was set up a year or two ago and never seen any activity may send a ‘lazy’ signal to potential customers.
10. Being self-centered - people generally don’t want to know what you had for breakfast. They may be interested to hear about your qualifications or experience. They may also want to know a little about your products, however, it’s definitely not all about you.

The most effective social media users are those who know how to listen, when to respond, and how to respond. Get it right, and your business will bloom.

If you read some web gurus, there’s no such thing as too much social media marketing. If you’re running a business, then you should be in a position to know better. When promoting your business, it should be on the back of a plan that has goals, and some way to measure the results. I see ‘gurus’ insisting that every online business should be active on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and, in some instances, specialist social media sites such as LinkedIn. Add in a blog and you have a fairly active social media approach.

The problem for many small businesses is time; in particular, dedicating enough time to manage each of those social media activities. While there are benefits to having a broad approach to social media marketing, you do need to concentrate on areas that are successful. For example, if you can garner a decent following on Facebook or Twitter, and that following converts to sales, then your efforts are being rewarded.

If you are spending a lot of time on social media marketing, without seeing any marked increase in sales, then you should be reappraising your strategies. Are you interacting on these sites in a way that will develop relationships and so increase sales, or are you simply regurgitating your website data? This is a mistake that is often found on Twitter – the most successful businesses using Twitter are those that use the site to announce special deals or discounts.

Blogs are slightly different. They can become the link between your social media marketing and your primary website. Blogs also have a huge SEO value if organic search traffic is an important source of traffic to your website. However, even a blog requires planning. You need to develop keywords that you can target, and you need to develop content that readers will find useful whilst at the same time encouraging them to click through to your primary website.

Like most areas of your business, planning, goal setting, measuring and analyzing is an important component of social media marketing. Done correctly, you can focus on areas that are successful and helping you build your business. In many cases, small businesses can benefit from the advice of a small business marketing expert. They can help guide them through the creation of a viable social media plan designed to help build the business’s presence, develop new customers, and, ultimately, help grow the business.

One of the best ways to market your business at a low cost is to use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. However, because of the sheer number of users who practically live on Facebook all day, it can be hard to market the one business you have and get a lot of hits to your status posts and website in general. So how do you go about it? The following tips will help you build your business on the social media sites.

1. Have a website or a blog. There are a number of free sites where you can start a website and/or a blog. The sites are customizable and easy to use. Not only will you be able to put your products on the site, you will need to keep information up to day in the form of a blog post or article. Once that is done, link your site to all the social media sites, including Facebook, Google + and Twitter. Link to as many as you feel comfortable doing on a daily basis. Alternatively, you can also hire a business consultant who will help you get a website set up and give you pointers.
2. Emails and Comments. Stay in contact with the people who visit your site. If they make a comment, be sure to respond back. The same goes for emails. Emails are a great way to build a client base and to market sale items. At the same time, put a status on the social media sites about the sale or a comment about the new post for everyone to read.
3. Third Party Endorsements. Search for online magazines or journalists who typically write about the brand and/or products you have. Ask to be interviewed, don’t wait to be. There are thousands of small businesses out there and you may never get noticed. If you have a third party endorsement, it will go a long way in building integrity for your business.

All it takes is thinking about a different way to brand and market your business. It’s a new world with new ideas, so jump on the bandwagon and try your hand at standing out from other businesses in order that your on line presence will grow.

There is a new contender on the block as far as Facebook is concerned. Google has just announced it’s newest product, Google + brand pages. Google+ brand pages look a lot like Facebook’s fan pages for businesses or brands. The platform is still in beta stage but is open to the public.

Since Google+ is still less than a year old, they don’t have the following yet that Facebook has but it’s only be a matter of time. Why, you ask? Simply because of the name, or brand, if you will. The Google name will go a very long way in bringing in numbers.

The new Google + has some of the same styling as Facebook as far as profile, pictures, friends and news pages. Friends are put in circles, such as friends, family, etc. There is also an option to choose the latest news headlines or people you find interesting and add them to your pages as well.

Additionally, Google already has a good grasp on search and other means of keeping track of what people are searching for online. Think about your ad placed on Google +. This alone could be a potentially big boost for your business. Google + is already ahead of the game in this area. More so than Facebook.

On Google + you can start a “hangout.” There is a webcam attached so all of your friends or business acquaintances can get together and visit or talk about business. It seems there will be a little bit of Skype, Facebook and YouTube all rolled into one platform. That will be much simpler than having to tab back and forth between them.

It’s going to be interesting how well Google + is received. For all intents and purposes, it looks like it’s going to be a huge success simply because of the name.

Twitter has announced that they will have a new version of Twitter coming out. This new version will have all the bells and whistles for businesses so their business can take flight.

Enhanced profile pages will help businesses better establish their brand on the internet. The enhanced profile page will have a better layout, a place for logos and larger photos. It will be much more user-friendly but will be able to handle more tweets so you can always tell who is following you and what they are saying. Businesses will now be able to choose what content they want on their home page at Twitter, along with a videos they choose to share on their page.

Some businesses have already jumped on the bandwagon and are partnering with Twitter for the new enhanced pages. Those on the list include General Electric, Disney/Pixar, American Express, Staples and McDonald’s. Of course, you will have to have the new enhanced pages yourself in order to see the other business’s pages. And they’re not quite rolled out to the public just yet so you’ll have to wait to get yours.

The new enhanced Twitter pages will continue to be free and everyone will eventually have the benefit of these new pages.  You can go to fly.twitter.com in order to see how to get the new profile pages for your business.

This is definitely has the potential to bring in more business for those who put the new Twitter brand pages to use. Communication means everything in a business and the new pages will definitely bring your communication with your customers to a new level. This will help you stay in touch with your customers easier and you will be able to quickly see what others are saying about you. That way you will always be on top of the momentum where your business is concerned.

Head on over to Twitter and check out the new enhanced pages. I think you will be very pleased and will enjoy tweeting about it.

We have been hearing a lot lately about Facebook. What it means to individuals as well as businesses. Most of us understand basically what Facebook is. It is a way to stay connected with family and friends and to keep current on events in their lives. That is correct. What a lot of us don’t understand is how it will actually help businesses just by staying connected with friends.

In nearly every aspect in our lives we depend on the references or opinions of others that we do trust in order to make informed and responsible decisions. This can be something as simple as where to eat to what companies we will trust our personal information on the internet.

That information is what drives the search engines to small businesses. It’s like the old saying “what goes around, comes around.”

For instance, you are chatting with a family member on Facebook. You may be telling them that you need a new roof replaced. They may have used a company from your area that they were very impressed with themselves. They give you the name, but they don’t have any other information. After you get off Facebook, because you trust that family member, you are going to do a search for that particular company, right? Right. That is just one way Facebooking and Search Engines can work together.

Social Media marketing is only going to grow. Make sure your business stays on track by using social media sites to build your business. Start a fan page. It’s just like word of mouth, but it will be word of friends and family. The family and friends of fans of your page will look at your page. Because they trust their family and friends, they will like your page as well. Your audience will only grow. And getting bigger means more sales for your business.

Most of you have heard of tweet, Facebook, YouTube and Myspace. We all know that these platforms are social media where you can connect with friends and family to keep abreast of things in each other’s world. But, what does it mean for small businesses?

Social media is the new way of advertising and marketing your business. It is growing tremendously and many small business owners are thriving in the arena. It doesn’t matter what type of business you have, you can always generate a following by using social media.

For instance, if you already have a blog that you post to on a regular basis about your business, you can send your posts to Twitter, Facebook and others to generate even more readers. At the same time, be sure to answer any comments that you get. If you ignore them, the readers will go away.

Let’s say you have a small business from your home. You make crafts and each craft is posted on your website as items for sale. This is all well and good, but how about making a video so others can really see what your items look like. You then post the video to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. This will likely generate some sales for your business. And, best of all, it only takes a little time out of your day and not a lot of cash to do it.

Let’s face it, the old tried and true ways of the past, such as newspapers and radio advertising are just not what they used to be. The internet has come such a long way since the early days of going to chat rooms and piddling around.

And besides, you just never know what social media tactics will work for you so it is best to try several different venues to find the perfect fit for you. If you don’t feel comfortable doing that, appoint someone within your company that can post social media posts for the company. You will be glad that you decided to try something new.