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Facebook is one of the most effective online marketing platforms online today, with a thriving community of like minded individuals ready to connect with you and your business. Because of this Facebook business marketing is at an all time high amongst brands big and small. It is imperative then that you are marketing your business there. Here are seven ways for small businesses to maximize their presence on Facebook with minimum resources.

Manage what is realistic and not what you ‘think’ you can do. Set realistic goals for your approach to social media and you won’t be disappointed. Don’t expect to get thousands of fans within your first month, but think more along the lines of a two or three digit number. Then if you hit something larger than you originally anticipated, you’ll be pleasantly surprised and that will give you momentum.

Allocate time: Engaging on Facebook, like any social media platform requires time. If you want to give your business the best exposure possible then you need to be constantly engaging and sharing information with others in your industry, and of course this means taking time to have a constant presence there – in one way or another. Of course, within the Facebook Community, like most online business communities there is always the various upgrade features that you can utilize to help get your business that little extra exposure it is looking for without having to sacrifice the time it might normally take.

Ask questions and Learn! You can never ask too many questions when it comes to Social Media. Engaging on Facebook and using it as an effective marketing tool therefore means asking the right questions and making sure you write down the answers! You need to be willing to learn something new everyday if you really want to succeed marketing your business on Facebook.

If you are going to buy advertising, start small. It’s possible to promote your business on Facebook without spending anything but at some point you might get the itch to buy advertising. Facebook offer a fantastic option for businesses looking to buy the traffic coming to their page and my advise here is to start small. Figure out which keywords work best and what demographic you want to target and then start with a few small test ads to see how the market responds.

Create a Page for your Business, not a profile. Your connection on Facebook starts with the message you want your business to give out to the world. The easiest way to do this is to create a page dedicated to your business and related offerings. Make sure your real friends and connections are the first people you invite to your new page. Don’t be shy.

Treat your page like a phone conversation: Send a thank-you message right after someone clicks “like” on your page, and make a point of responding to messages and wall posts as soon as possible. In short, have real conversations with real people.

Don’t spam: I cannot stress enough the importance of adding value to the community. This means sharing valuable information that you find and not simply promoting your own wares constantly. Don’t contribute to this noise and fans will appreciate it. When you have something to say to your followers, put it on your wall, not in their inboxes.

Promotions: For example, Discounts for first-time customers really work toward generating repeat business. But don’t limit the promotions to the first time someone engages with your company, lest they lose interest. Periodically put things on sale if you can, in order to keep people coming back. Whatever you decide, Facebook marketing is about standing out from the crown and sharing a unique and most importantly helpful voice.

Learn how to Market Your Business on Facebook. Check out the various upgrade features designed to get your business moving the right direction and let us help you with your Social Media Marketing campaign today

Professional Business directories are like online marketing platforms for your business. Here are five key areas that you must make the most of in order to build relationships, establish yourself as your industry expert, and promote your brand using online business networks

1. Research, Focus and Target Research and visit several networking groups. Don’t waste time with groups that will not provide the type of connections your business needs. If you are a real estate professional, for example then make sure you target relevant groups. What is good about online business directories is that they make it easy to target the right audience with their searchable databases and relative ease of use. Professional business directories and the various upgrade features can really help your brand.

2. You need to make sure you are genuine and that you stand by what you are talking about. It is easier than you think to see through you if you are not genuine, and on the flip side to this – it is really hard to keep up appearances if you are not the genuine article, excuse the pun. Be professional not a bothersome bore. Find groups and people you enjoy, people who are fun to be with. It makes being yourself more comfortable. This also makes the whole process a lot more fun!

3. Ask good questions and more importantly – ask the right questions! The biggest part of networking online is engaging through conversation and referring others. Make sure then that you are not only asking the right questions, but listening to the answers and to the market in general. It is a lot easier to anticipate the needs of an ever changing market when you have been listening to what people are asking and saying.

4. Be the Reliable Expert. What is your business truly ‘the experts’ of? What is your business known for. Let’s assume (and hope) your business is known for many great things. Are you reliable, does your business have reliability at its core? If so, be sure to confirm this with your clients and reaffirm this fact through your reliability on the online business networks you are engaging on.

5. Business networking has to be active to succeed. This includes being active in places like Linkedin, and also utilising Facebook Marketing to network online. In order to do this then you need to set goals with relation to your social business networking. Are you spending the requisite time engaging with others? Is it having the impact you thought? if not then perhaps you need to look at setting aside more time within each network. Not spending enough time will undo all the previous efforts you make in relation to professional business networking.

Our Professional business directories and various upgrade features can help your business grow. Utilize the best Online Marketing Platforms and learn how to promote your brand the right way.

Having your business listed in industry specific online directories is one of the best marketing decisions you can make for your company, and whether you provide services online or locally, there are numerous reasons why you need to have a presence on industry specific business directories.

Professional Business directories are like online marketing platforms for your business, and with the advanced functions and searchable databases of the directories, it is a great resource for consumers as they can compare, review and even recommend professional services.

A local business however, can really benefit from being listed in an industry specific business directory.

What makes a local business listing appealing to business owners is the fact that you can get an online presence without a website, but more importantly – you are instantly visible to thousands of potential customers. This is something that used to only available through a yellow pages ad or a similar offline campaign, and not only does this cost more it is also far less effective in today’s online age.

With custom-branded profiles and advertising available it is even easier to make your business stand out and get noticed. Although this is an online world, the businesses providing services do so offline, so it is all about location location location.

When searching for a service in a specific city, example the searcher type “Bergen County Real Estate” the searcher will see a listing for local businesses which are usually accompanied by a map which allows the viewer to determine which are the most accessible and convenient for them. When the viewer clicks on your site, they will find more information about your business, reviews from your previous clients, ratings and also how they can contact you.

Your goal is to place your business on the top of the listing. This obviously means more exposure and more customers to your business. Many Business directories will allow for various upgrade features which can help get your business listed higher.

The ability for your potential customers to find, search and compare professional services all in one place means that if you are genuinely providing a valuable service then being listed in a professional online business directory can potentially bring you a lot more business, both new and referred.

Out with the old, in with the new.

The days of Yellow pages and offline advertising are over, and even though most businesses still utilize these services, it is a wonder why. The costs are quite high, and considering that a placement in an industry specific directory is so cost effective, it amazes me how many local business still do not do it. You want to be found don’t you?!

To sum it up, having your business listed on the local business listing whether it’s an offline or online business, with or without a website will bring you a great positive result and will help your business to get more popular and get more potential customers. So what are you waiting for, get your business listed now!

Our Professional Business Directories can help your business grow. Utilize the best Online Marketing Platform and learn how to get your business to the top of the listings for more exposure and ultimately – more sales!

Thanks to web 2.0 that allow individuals information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. It provides users with more user-interface, software and storage facilities, all through their browser, as well as to interact with each other through the use of social media. However, the internet is fast evolving into a place where some and perhaps almost all people go to work. It’s not just a place to reconnect with old friends or meet new ones, but a place to earn and interact with professionals.

Social networking sites, blogs, video sharing, web applications, mashups, hosted services, and a whole lot more are examples of Web 2.0 like Digg or YouTube. The real estate business has benefited so much from this and for the confirmation; there are a lot of web 2.0 real estate sites just like the BiggerPockets, Trulia, and Zillow. These sites as well as the other web 2.0 real estate sites made it easier for a newbie to learn how to buy, sell, or rent properties with their really cool technologies.

But Web 3.0 is fast emerging as the whole world is catching up with Web 2.0. Web 3.0 varies greatly from Web 2.0 because of the presence of Semantic Web and personalization. This means that web 3.0 allows users to sit back and allow the Internet to do all the work for them. How is this possible? Since Web 2.0 is the platform where Web 3.0 has evolved, its most defining feature is better quality open video to mobile devices, TVs, laptops, and tablets.

Aside from focusing on social networks, web functionality deemed necessary in Web 3.0 are already revealed – the semantic web needed for artificial intelligence applications, personal data integration especially on social networks, web applications and services, syndication of content and other services between sites or networks, increased use of streamed video or IPTV and virtual environments.

Realtors and real estate agents who have used Web 3.0 as their foundation in marketing their properties attest that they have accomplished a lot of things and that results to easier and faster communication, and fun in marketing because cool apps and software tools, which gives clients and prospects better marketing services and builds closer relationship.

These are good strategies for a successful real estate marketing. Real Estate in Brigham City will not be sold unless one employs effective marketing tools. Explore Web 3.0 and turn your Elgin IL Homes marketing is a whole lot easier.

Before I started playing with the new Twitter technology I had my doubts about its usefulness. I have had access to my twitter account and have periodically used it to publicize the RedX Real Estate Lead generation system. Because of this, I am just learning to implement the technology. However, now that I understand technology, I can appreciate how REALTORS online should be utilizing this tool to attract leads.

So how do you use Twitter in a promotion campaign? Before we begin you need to understand that Twitter is only a single point of contact for your prospects and that numerous touches are usually desired to convert a lead into a client. Also, understand that Twitter etiquette is that when you follow a person’s tweets, they may in turn monitor you.

With that background, what are the steps? The principal step is to connect your twitter account to any web site where you have an online presence. If you have a site, blog or web presence, add a “Follow me” or Twitter logo with a hyperlink to your twitter site.

To begin utilizing Twitter as a promotion resource, create an auto-responder on your twitter account so that when anybody chooses to follow you, they will automatically receive a thank you response with a call to action. I use TweetLater.Com for my auto-responders. The message should thank the user for following, and incorporate a call to action. Your may choose to make your call to action an offer for a complimentary report, data, or some other offer that allows you to capture more information about your target lead. For example, my call to action is “Thanks for the Follow! Want a discount on listing leads from RedX? Visit me here for more info.”

The next step is to begin tweeting. You should routinely tweet, but additionally be aware that there is a shortcut that you may exploit when you cannot don’t have time to make a post. If you control a blog that you keep posted often, you may post the feed directly to your twitter account using TwitterFeed.

The subsequent step in your twitter promotion should be to attract local followers. You can find followers who reside in your area simply by doing a keyword search on the twitter user directory Twellow. Just search the twellow list for active tweeters that live in your area and follow those that fit the bill.

There are a number of other ways that you can incorporate twitter as part of your promotion, together with mobile messaging and even film. We won’t get into those details here, but may address them later.

Randy also manages the REALTOR Leads social marketing blog and has had many articles published in numerous real estate periodicals.

Many real estate investors don’t understand social media, or how it can help them.

Social media is like “word of mouth” on steroids. It helps build relationships between the consumer and the product or service. In the case of the real estate investor, these consumers can be prospective tenants, buyers or sellers. Social media is not selling, it’s not SPAMMING, and it’s gaining the trust and respect that you need to keep clients coming back. Social media is a two-way conversation. Social media helps your clients find you in many ways.

Social media uses avenues like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and videos to post information and get feedback or questions from prospective or current clients.

In other words, if you are able to place content on the internet and viewers can respond to you, then you are using social media.

Social media can be understood by first viewing how consumers used to do business. I call this “What is old is new again.” Back in the 60’s, dad took you to Bob’s Dealership to purchase your first car. You might have asked, “Why do we have to go to Bob’s? Why can’t we go to Fred’s?” The answer was usually, “Because I bought my car there and grandpa did, too, so you can’t go wrong with Bob.” The trust was established; therefore you went to Bob’s dealership and not Fred’s. More than likely dear old dad played poker with Bob and participated in the same community events.
How does that relate today?

How does the above scenario relate to today’s consumer culture? Today, that same relationship, word of mouth, and trust is built over the internet. Consumers are more connected to the technological world today more than ever. Many phones now even have social media integration. By utilizing social media marketing you can effectively target this audience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

Now, why should you care about social media? No matter the industry, you have to compete online for your consumer. Social media gives you the opportunity to build a relationship with either an existing client or a prospect. As the relationship builds, the trust is earned; therefore you will be the one they decide to conduct business with when the time comes.

Social media can provide your business with many tools:
* Building your reputation
* Getting more website views and phone calls
* Reputation management
* Customer service

Real estate investors are taking advantage of social media in a variety of ways. One way is through the publication of a blog. A blog is an online journal where people can post journal entries and allow readers to provide feedback on the content. Some jokingly say that BLOG is an acronym for “Better Listings On Google.” Blogs are used by real estate agents to build credibility. Generation X and Y members provide a great market for first time homeowners or renters. They seek out blogs for information and feel more at ease placing a question on a blog rather than dialing the phone to ask. They view this as using time wisely.

By publishing a blog, you will get noticed on Google and other search engines. Frequent updates inform search engines that the site is authoritative and informational, resulting in higher search-engine rankings. Using popular search keywords in a blog post can also strengthen your results.

An example of how a real estate investor is using their blog to increase traffic is giving tips on what to look for when purchasing or selling a home. Real estate investor, Colman Grant out of Colorado, posted key points on how to protect yourself when hiring contractors to renovate your home. He is viewed as an expert since he does this quite often. From this post, he gained an interested investor.

Join the many realtors who have incorporated Facebook as a great referral system. One way of doing this is connecting with classmates from high school and/or college. Your past friends learn that you are in the real estate business and begin to use you as their trusted agent and the word spreads that you are the best source.

An example of a realtor using Facebook would be Amy Hale of Seattle, Washington. She used this method and gained three clients in one day. She had connected with her classmates from SUT (Texas) and Flour Bluff High School. While connecting with old friends, she had posted an open house on her status and one of her high school friends had happened to move to a town near the open house. Her friend didn’t buy that house but wanted her to sell her house. She did a great job and Amy ended up finding a house for her friend’s sister and best friend. This is an example of many.

Remember, there are many strategies at your disposal. Just find the one that fits your audience. Your strategy may need to evolve and change over a period of time as various industries learn to adapt their methods of communication.

Social media allows you and the consumer to communicate in an open and safe atmosphere that establishes a relationship that will last through the good and the bad.

Learn more about social media. Stop by Sonja Dyess’s site where you can find out all about social networking and what it can do for you.