Spreading the Word: Getting More Mileage From Social Network Marketing

At Jacob Tyler, we like to remind clients that social network marketing doesn’t run on “traffic” or “hits” – when you’re trying to hook people on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, its attention that matters most. When people are tuned in, engaged in what you’re telling them in pixels or video, then you are moving them closer to client status. On the other hand, having them glance at your profile and then move on doesn’t do anything for you.

As I hope we have imparted to you by now, the key to gaining this attention is having an interesting, soft sell marketing message. In other words, you need to dance, sing, and otherwise entertain while quietly referring to your products or services every once in a while. Of course, both sides of the equation have to balance each other out – you do have to find the people who are going to give you their attention.

Read More

YouTube: A Hidden Social Networking Gem

It’s amazing how often YouTube is overlooked by social network marketers – and online marketers in general – given that the site generates more than one billion daily hits. While it’s undoubtedly true that many of those are visitors looking to find videos of kittens running across keyboards or snowboarding accidents set to music, many are looking for videos that can help them make money, advance their careers, or run their businesses more effectively. These are the men and women who might have an interest in your services.

The use of video makes YouTube a bit of a different animal, but most of the standard rules still apply. Here are a few things you can do to turn watchers into buyers…

Read More

LinkedIn: Your Gateway to the Professional Crowd

The key to marketing through LinkedIn isn’t in crafting clever ads or coming up with the right tag lines, but in looking like a person or company that people want to do business with. It’s all about your resume and profile, along with some high-powered connections, so make sure that what’s written about you is arranged and worded in a way that puts you at the top of the pack.

Read More

Facebook: Four Tips for Making Friends, Fans, and Profits

Facebook, the global behemoth that was started by a couple of friends who just wanted to stay in touch, has gotten to be so popular that it’s almost single-handedly become the face of social networking. Although MySpace is technically older and a little bigger, and LinkedIn is more known and used in professional circles, Facebook is the one social media site that everyone – from your kids to your grandmother – is almost certain to have a profile on. That makes it an important part of your marketing mix.

Read More

Company Blogs: the First Step in Social Network Marketing

Blogs aren’t anything new, but in the few short years since they’ve become a mainstream marketing tool, their best uses and impacts have become increasingly clear. We have learned, for example, that blogs are a great way to share industry news, offer informative articles, and improve your search engine positioning. On the other hand, they tend to work less well as a direct sales medium. People like to read blog posts to be entertained or stay informed; if you do nothing more than ask them to buy, they will simply stop coming back to check out new updates.

Here are a few more tips for putting your company’s blog into action:

Read More

Creating a Social Media Marketing Action Plan

Once you’ve taken a look through the major social networking sites, started some profiles, thought about developing a consistent tone and voice, and set some concrete, real world targets for what you’d like to see happen in your business as a result, it’s time to get down to the fun part… actually doing something.

But with social network marketing, even this can be a challenge. Why? Because there’s so much to do that it can easily become overwhelming, even for the most organized company. For that reason, it’s better not to dive right in – you need an action plan to follow.

Read More

The Only Thing that Matters in Social Networking… And Beyond

One of the best things about social networking is that it’s fun. And one of the worst things about social networking is that it’s fun.

Do you see where I’m going here?

It’s easy to get excited about marketing yourself or your company through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites because they’re so great to play with. The problem, though, is that they can also be an incredible waste of time if you aren’t careful. What was meant to be 15 minutes of updating profiles and linking to sources can easily become three hours of catching up with old friends, sharing war stories with business partners, and looking at photos of a contact’s vacation. Does any of that sound like a productive morning to you?

Read More

Setting the Tone: Developing a Consistent Social Networking Voice

You might have noticed that a big part of social network marketing is letting customers and colleagues get to know you. It doesn’t matter whether the relationship is with you personally, or just their impression of your company – either way, you want them to feel like they’re getting a sense of what you’re all about.

Developing a consistent tone and voice is an important part of that.

Read More

Before You Get Started in Social Network Marketing

A lot of marketers, once they figure out that social networking might be able to help their business, rush out to join every site they can find. As wonderful as their enthusiasm is, this is usually a bad idea. That’s because, as with most business activities, it’s a good idea to have a specific plan – and end goal – in mind before you start investing a lot of time and effort into it.

Read More