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Facebook Moves the Goal Posts

April 23, 2010 By kirkoconnor Leave a Comment

Facebook this week fired the largest ever warning shot across the bows of Internet giant Google.

At their F8 Developer Conference Facebook announced a series of products aimed at dramatically improving the interaction of web sites with their social networking site.

Blah blah, blah (technical, incomprehensible mumbo jumbo follows……)

But not this time…….

What Does It Mean in Plain English ?

My fave Internet Marketing maven (a maven is a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others) Ed Dale had this to say:-

“So today, Facebook announce, with the addition of a single line of code, you can “like” a news story, a movie on imdb, a music track on pandora…

IN AN ACT OF SHEER PSYCHOLOGICAL BRILLIANCE – the little line of code puts up a little picture of YOUR friends who’ve also “liked” that thing on the web. Robert Cialdini (author of Influence, the definitive guide to decision making triggers) must have weeped with joy at the social engineering (Note – I love this, I’m not sure others will…)

Facebook point out – liking something up untill today or tweeting or foursquaring was a temporary blip, if your friends happened to log in the last three hours they MIGHT have seen it. Let’s face it, if you tweeted it’s a crapshoot on a numbers basis if your friends actually see anything.

So when you click the new “Like” Facebook button, being very helpful and all, Facebook will update your permanent profile with your new like.”

For Ed’s full take on this go to Facebook Bombshell How Did Everyone Miss This ?.

Facebook's Open Graph

So, in short, if a visitor to your website who is also a Facebook user clicks the Like button you have on your post or page (you have one of these already surely ?) this will go into their profile for all their friends to see as well.

As WebProNews stated;-

“When you look at just the announcement of Facebook’s social plugins, you can already see some obvious benefits. Facebook has over 400 million users (probably well over that by now), and by including these plugins on your site, you’re providing a direct link for them to share your content with their friends, or simply to share their fondness of your brand, and this information will not not only go to Facebook itself, but has the potential to appear in other places on the web that are part of Facebook’s Open Graph.

Essentially, Facebook thinks connections are going to become the new links. This will theoretically happen through what they’re calling the Open Graph.”

Facebook supremo Mark Zuckerberg explains it thus:

Facebook has focused mostly on mapping out the part of the graph around people and their relationships.

“At the same time, other sites and services have been mapping out other parts of the graph so you can get relevant information about different types of things. For example, Yelp maps out the best local businesses and Pandora maps out which songs are related to each other.

All of these connections are important parts of the social graph, but until now it hasn’t been possible to easily share the connections you make on sites like Yelp or Pandora with your friends on Facebook. And you haven’t been able to bring your friends from Facebook to share experiences on these sites or personalize them to you.”

What Can It Mean to the Small Business Owner With A Website ?

If the content on your website is interesting or compelling to someone that visits the website they might click “Like” for that particular post or page (if, of course you have Facebook Like button on that post or page).

That places the person’s thumbnail image next to the button on the page. It also advises their friends on Facebook that they have liked a particular page on your website.

Some of those friends will have interests in common with the site visitor that has just “Liked” your page. Some of them will choose to come and have a look at that page as well. Some will click “Like” on the page and that will be communicated to their friends etc etc.

Do you get it ?

Personal referrals for a page on your website via Facebook. Good content gets a lot more traffic. Great content goes viral !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The more content you add and promote, the more chance you have of getting more visitors to your website and, of course, when they visit your website you get the chance to sell them something.

ALL THIS WITHOUT HAVING TO BE ON THE FRONT PAGE OF GOOGLE FOR YOUR SPECIFIC KEYWORD !!! (Google, remember Google ?).

And Here Comes the Real Kicker

And you can analyse all the traffic in fine detail BECAUSE Facebook knows about the demographics of all it’s members.

But that’s another article for another day.

So What Do I Do Now ?

Well, for a start, there is a “Like” button at the top of this article – CLICK IT NOW AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS.

And pray that your web development partner has even the smallest knowledge of Internet Marketing and social media marketing and that you can add content to your website yourself in a simple and easy manner because the goal posts have just been moved to an entirely new stadium…..

Filed Under: Featured Articles, Social Networks Tagged With: facebook, social media marketing

10 Reasons Why The iPad Will Change Computing Forever

April 4, 2010 By kirkoconnor 1 Comment

So the iPad has landed now amongst us mere mortals and is being hyped to the heavens by the “weberatti” or slagged off as just another fad or gimmick by those that don’t get it or get paid for playing up to those that really don’t get it (step forward at least one old and lame US late night chat show host).

The fact is that the real target market for the iPad is actually those that “really don’t get it”.

The “weberatti” don’t NEED an iPad. They WANT an iPad but they really don’t need one.

The most intelligent of them see the iPad as a new and essential piece of the puzzle of bringing ubiquitous content delivery to the masses.

They see the device as an opportunity to both make money and as a revolution in online access which, when coupled with Facebook and other social media platforms, will significantly broaden their potential market.

Take My Family – No, Please, Really, Take Them !

Let’s do it chronologically starting off with the first humans I got to know really well. My parents.

My personal “lighbulb over the head” moment happened when I introduced my iPhone to my parents (both retired).

I then told them there was a bigger version of this thing coming out soon and that it would sell for well under a $1000 dollars.

My parents have a PC and a laptop and a home network but I have never quite been able to get them to understand the concept of files, directories, right clicking and left clicking etc.

They can get a browser started and surf the net, play a few games and such but they really remain afraid of the technology and breaking the computer.

After having a play with the iPhone and seeing an iPad on the Internet they wanted one straight away. They are now bugging me to know when they can purchase one in Australia.

Why ?

It’s insanely simple to operate. It does exactly what they need it to do and no more.

They do not want to run multiple applications across multiple screens. They do not want to edit video or develop websites.

They just want to check email, play simple games, surf the net, access Facebook and look at photographs and watch videos online.

And they want to do all this from wherever they are in the house, especially whilst sitting in front of the TV or at the kitchen table.

My wife OPERATES a PC as well, however, she USES an iPhone. She sits in front of the TV for hours of an evening playing games on the iPhone.

Diana also likes women’s magazines, puzzle magazines and sudoku. Not an uncommon thing for millions of people in the western world.

The iPad is exceptionally suited for magazines, puzzles and games. No time to start up, easy pick up and hold, nice clear screen, operation by touch. It has it all and some more besides.

My daughter loves her iPhone and Facebook. Her social circle keep informed of what is happening and where they are going of an evening and who is doing what to whom.

YouTube also gets a run out with various viral videos and even TV programs that haven’t made our shores as well and, of course, music.

The iPad will do all of this better than an iPhone and, as most of it is also performed at home in front of the TV or in her room, it is the perfect size, functionality and price to be the device of choice.

So To The List of 10 Reasons Why The iPad will Change Computing Forever

  • The iPad is super simple to use – no startup, no directories, no complications whatsoever
  • The iPad is the perfect size – big enough to REALLY enjoy the content, small enough to place on your lap whilst watching TV or on the bus or train
  • The iPad is portable – nothing to connect, no mouse, no cables. Buy one, take it home, unpack it, use it.
  • The iPad is multi-functional – web browsing, video, social media, games, magazines, books.
  • The iPad has a whole heap of really useful applications already available for it before its actual release and more released every hour.
  • iPad applications are in the main really inexpensive. People don’t mind paying $5 to $10 for a game. It is a disposable amount. And they can get them delivered NOW !
  • iPad applications are really easy to find, download and activate. Nothing in the PC or Mac world comes near this level of usability and flexibility.
  • The iPad supports eBooks and online magazines. You will be able to get anything you want from anywhere around the world soon. This will kill your local newsagency.
  • The iPad is the perfect social media tool. Social media is here to stay. Facebook is a phenomenon. The iPad is THE perfect Facebook interface. No contest.
  • The iPad is the new personal TV. YouTube and a host of others deliver the content you choose straight to your iPad whether you are on the couch in bed or on the John.
  • Oh yes, a bonus point – it’s less than a $1000 – and even cheaper in the land of the yanks.

Do You Get It Yet ?

The goalposts have moved.

The iPad is as important as the PC was in the 1980s.

It is not a matter of the technology. The technology is totally irrelevant.

The iPad has ushered in the next phase of personal computing – no, that’s not quite right – the next phase of personal entertainment and connection.

Nothing will ever be the same again.

Filed Under: blog, Featured Articles, Internet Marketing, Social Networks Tagged With: ed dale, facebook, Internet Marketing, iPad, iPhone

Social Media Marketing White Paper

January 29, 2010 By kirkoconnor Leave a Comment

What is Social Media Marketing ?

Social media marketing is a term that describes use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, Wikipedia, Orkut and YouTube.

In the context of internet marketing, social media refers to a collective group of web properties whose content is primarily published by users, not direct employees of the property (e.g., the vast majority of video on YouTube is published by non-YouTube employees).

The Concept

Social media marketing has three important aspects:-

  1. Creating buzz or newsworthy events, videos, tweets, or blog entries that attract attention, and become viral in nature. Buzz is what makes social media marketing work. It replicates a message through user to user contact, rather than the traditional method of purchasing of an ad or promoting a press release. The message does not necessarily have to be about the product. Many successful viral campaigns have gathered steam through an amusing or compelling message, with the company logo or tagline included incidentally.
  2. Building ways that enable fans of a brand or company to promote a message themselves in multiple online social media venues. Fan pages in Twitter, MySpace of Facebook follow this model.
  3. It is based around online conversations. Social media marketing is not controlled by the organization. Instead it encourages user participation and dialogue. A badly designed social media marketing campaign can potentially backfire on the organization that created it. To be successful SMM campaigns must fully engage and respect the users.

According to Lloyd Salmons, first chairman of the Internet Advertising Bureau social media council “Social media isn’t just about big networks like Facebook and MySpace, it’s about brands having conversations.”

Source Wikipedia

Some Facts & Figures

Social networking sites are the most popular online destinations globally (based on the amount of time people spent there in December), with games and instant messaging coming in second and third, respectively. (Side note: As gaming becomes more popular on sites like Facebook, it will be interesting to see how this affects time spent.)

In December, Facebook was the most popular social networking site globally, with 67% of social media fans logging in. In addition, time spent on Facebook has been on the rise; globally, people spend close to six hours per month on the network.

In the U.S., people continue to spend more time on social networks, but year-over-year growth for Facebook and Twitter individually outpaced overall growth for the category at large.

Twitter was the fastest-growing social networking site in December 2009, during which it had 18.1 million unique visitors. That’s up from 2.7 million unique visitors in December 2008.

Top US Social Media Sites and Usage 2009

Top US Social Media Sites and Usage 2009

Source mashable.com

And this doesn’t include YouTube !

Facebook Facts & Figures

  • More than 350 million active users
  • 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
  • More than 35 million users update their status each day
  • More than 55 million status updates posted each day
  • More than 2.5 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
  • More than 3.5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
  • More than 3.5 million events created each month
  • More than 1.6 million active Pages on Facebook
  • More than 700,000 local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
  • Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans
  • Average user has 130 friends on the site
  • Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
  • Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook
  • Average user clicks the Like button on 9 pieces of content each month
  • Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month
  • Average user becomes a fan of 2 Pages each month
  • Average user is invited to 3 events per month
  • Average user is a member of 12 groups

More people clicked through to Facebook than Google on Christmas day 2009.

So ya don’t think that your prime potential customers use facebook because they are a more mature audience ? Think again !!!

Facebook Users by Generation 2009

Facebook Users by Generation 2009

Why Should Your Business Use Social Media ?

An overnight success ten years in the making, social media is as transformative as it is evolutionary.

At last, 2010 is expected to be the year that social media goes mainstream for business.

Here are some reasons you might consider investing some time in Social Media;-

1. Better interaction with your clients
2. More personal interaction with your clients
3. To better serve your clients
4. The same for your suppliers
5. To have input to what is being said about your brand online
6. To better understand the trends in your industry
7. To learn from the gurus and the leaders in your industry
8. To promote your brand online (be careful – the salesman at the BBQ !)
9. To make ‘special offers’ to existing clients & potential new clients
10. To introduce your products and services to potential new clients

Full social media integration often happens in stages — it’s an evolutionary process for companies and consumers alike.

Here are the some common stages that businesses experience as they travel the road to full social media integration.

Stage 1: Observe and Report

Listen and learn. This is the entry point for businesses to better understand the behaviour of an interactive marketplace.

Stage 2: Setting the Stage + Dress Rehearsal

Once the initial intelligence is gathered, businesses will set the stage for social media participation.

Create official presences across one or more social networks, usually Twitter and possibly Facebook (Fan Pages), YouTube, and Flickr. Early on, this is often experimental, and less about strategic engagement.

Stage 3: Socializing Media

The next stage in the evolution of a new media business is the proverbial step towards “joining the conversation.”

As companies take the stage, they will eventually pay attention to the reaction of the audience in order to respond and improve content, define future engagements, and humanize communication.

Stage 4: Finding a Voice and a Sense of Purpose

By not only listening, but hearing and observing the responses and mannerisms of those who define our markets, we can surface pain points, source ideas, foster innovation, earn inspiration, learn, and feel a little empathy in order to integrate a sense of purpose into our socialized media programs.

Stage 5: Turning Words Into Actions

Actions speak louder than words. Businesses must act. Once the door to social consciousness is opened, bring the spirit of your company through it to affect change.

Stage 6: Humanizing the Brand and Defining the Experience

No longer will we focus on controlling the message from conception to documentation to distribution. We lose control as our messages are introduced into the real world. Our story migrates from consumer to consumer. This chain forms a powerful connection that reveals true reactions, perception, and perspectives.

Stage 7: Community

Community is an investment in the cultivation and fusion of affinity, interaction, advocacy and loyalty. Learned earlier in the stages of new media adoption, community isn’t established with the creation of a social profile. Community is earned and fortified through shared experiences. It takes commitment.

Stage 8: Social Darwinism

Listening and responding is only as effective as its ability to inspire transformation, improvement, and adaptation from the inside out. Survival does not hinge solely on a company’s social media strategy. The social element is but one part of an overall integrated strategy. It’s how we learn and adapt that ensures our place within the evolution of our markets.

Source mashable.com

Google & Real Time Search

Do you get any business from your website ?

What is your position in the Search Engine Results Pages on a Google search for a particular “keyword phrase” that relates to your business ?

Did you know that approximately 60% of clicks go to those businesses listed on page 1 for a relevant keyword search ?

What Is Google Trying to Achieve ?

To increase the number of people using its services by providing them with the best possible (most relevant) results for their keyword search.

Why – because Google sells advertising space and makes an awful lot of money from doing this.

Google reported revenues of $6.67 billion (USD) for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, an increase of 17% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.

What Are Google’s Latest Initiatives – Where is Google Heading in Terms of Search?

Google is focussing on real time search.

YouTube videos are already placing near the top in search results.

Realtime = relevance = better search results

Realtime is sourced from Social media amongst other places.

Google and Twitter have already signed an agreement.

Content Is King !

The “static” brochure website is dead !

Google rewards relevant, interesting and frequently updated content because it fits the profile of what people want to view.

As a small business owner who wants to gain their fare share of business from an increasingly connected marketplace you need to consider the following;-

Engage with your clients past, present or future (this also drives referrals)

Listen to what they are saying

Help them when they have problems

Make it really easy to find your brand online

Keep them up to date with what is happening in your business and in your industry in a manner THAT MEETS THEIR NEEDS NOT YOURS !

Offer them special enticements via social media portals or via your website. This drives customer loyalty.

Conclusion

The 1950s through to the early 2000s saw a domination of the market by big corporations.

This domination was leveraged through each existing and emerging media channel.

“Dead Tree Media” is dying (no matter what Rupert Murdoch might like to believe).

TV will succumb to IPTV and Internet connected media devices.

We will watch whatever we want to watch from anywhere around the world and we will no longer have to be “spoonfed” by local TV stations and newspapers with specific agendas (political, commercial or otherwise).

The Apple iPad Tablet will be a huge winner (to released Jan 27 in the US by Apple – it will be as big as the iPod and iPhone) !

I will go so far as to say that it will revolutionise the way we interact with the online world & the media. It is also another new channel for us to use as a promotion tool for our products and services.

This is the best chance in the last 50 years for small business to compete with the big guys.

We will do so by better service and the enhancement of our reputation through social media.

Social Media is here to stay. Get with the program or be left behind by those that are prepared to make the effort !

Download a Hard Copy of This Presentation

You can also Download or print a hardcopy of Onlineassist4u Social Media Marketing Overview Jan 2010 by clicking on this link.

Note: We have attempted to credit the source wherever we have quoted another organisation. The people we have quoted are excellent and deserve the small amount of time it would take you to check them out. So do it, you will not be disappointed !

Filed Under: Featured Articles, Social Networks Tagged With: facebook, marketing, social media, twitter, youtube

Online Marketing for Small Business Seminar Handouts

December 4, 2009 By kirkoconnor Leave a Comment

This week witnessed our fledgling company’s first seminar and, judging by the feedback forms collected afterwards, it seems that our content was right on the money so to speak.

Both Geoff and I would especially like to thank all of you who attended on the day as, without your support, there would have been no opportunity to share all of this information which is burning in our skulls.

Onlineassist4u Seminar Kirk and Geoff tell it like it is
Onlineassist4u Seminar Kirk and Geoff tell it like it is

At onlineassist4u we are fully committed to helping small business gain full control of their online marketing. The tools exist and they are not difficult to use.

The only issues at hand we believe are as follows;

  • Is there a benefit to your small business in taking the time to market it online ? If not, do not do it. Do whatever else you have determined to be a better ‘payoff’ in terms of the marketing of your company.
  • If you believe their is a benefit then put the time into learning what must be done. It may be that once you have a reasonable idea of all that must be done that you outsource some of that work to a trusted third party (that not only performs the work but reports back to you with the results of that work)
  • Measure the returns you are getting on your investment (both time and money) and modify your activities accordingly

Marketing your business online is an ongoing activity. There is no point in just getting a website up and then moving on to something else. All you have created is an online brochure. An online brochure with an extremely limited shelf life.

The slides from our seminar are available below. You will need to install the Adobe Acrobat reader to view them and the latest version can be downloaded from Adobe Acrobat Reader.

The seminar handout is available here Download onlineassist4u seminar overheads

Videos from the seminar will be sliced and diced and presented on this site over the next couple of months.

To make sure you see them all just subscribe to our RSS feed click here to subscribe to our RSS feed

Filed Under: Featured Articles, Internet Marketing, seminars, Social Networks Tagged With: Internet Marketing, seminar

The Thank You Economy You Need To Know This !

October 29, 2009 By kirkoconnor Leave a Comment

Obtuse title I know but I just got through watching a video from Gary Vaynerchuk and I gotta share this with you because if you ‘get it’ soon before the others that will come along in the next couple of years you are bound to profit from it.

What is the Thank You Economy ?

Gary explains it much better than me in his video but I will give it a go anyway…..

The thank you economy is happening right now on the Internet. Loads of people (and I say people because this is a ‘people‘ driven thing NOT a corporate driven thing) are giving away fantastic advice and even products and services for free or for a nominal fee.

The information / products / services that many are giving out are Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y.

So what’s in it for them ?

Three major things and if you do not get this immediately then you better start to understand it quick or you are going to be yesterday’s winner and tomorrow’s loser.

  • They are building their brand and their following
  • They are positioning themselves as experts
  • They are building credits in what guru Marketing Psychologist Professor Robert Cialdini calls Reciprocity

I won’t go into items 1 and 2. The benefits are obvious.

What better way to build your brand and your following than by giving people a taste of the value you add with no cost and no risk to them ?

The fact is they will just keep following you to get the next lot of freebies or the next piece of incisive advice.

One note of caution though ! Be honest. Give away quality.

Give away your best stuff. Position yourself as an expert not an also ran. If you give away rubbish if will indicate that your content is rubbish and not worth having and what will that do for your personal brand and your business ?

What about the big word you used then Kirk ? R-e-c-i-p-r-o-c-i-t-y. What’s the go here ?

Well, the way Professor Cialdini explains it (or at least my understanding of it – sorry Prof).

Human beings are culturally evolved for reciprocity – one good turn deserves another – the great aussie ‘shout’ etc.

Long ago when the human race was still forming small communities a division of labor became necessary. Some would go out and hunt, some would search for fruits, berries and root vegetables, wild grains etc, some would tend the very young and infirm. You get the picture.

Reciprocity evolved as a social custom to ensure that the group’s needs were all met. The person out hunting needed to have the root vegetables, berries etc as well for a balanced diet and for when the hunt returned with nothing to show for their efforts and to have their young cared for. The carers needed food and so on and so forth.

Reciprocity was a way of ensuring that all received what was needed without having to do it all themselves which was becoming impossible.

This has evolved as society has evolved and we have all become far more specialized.

So, in other words, if I give you something of value for free, you will likely culturally feel indebted to repay me in some way at some point in time.

If I subsequently come out with something else of value and there is a charge associated with that product or service and you are in the market for such a thing then you will be pre-disposed to purchase it from me versus my competition. Reciprocity at work.

Also, and perhaps more importantly, you will have been following me via my website’s RSS feed, via a subscription to my email list or via social media because you are awaiting the next ‘gem’.

So you will know when I release the new item that requires a monetary investment from you and you will be more likely to check it out because I have already positioned myself as a supplier of products and services that are of value to you PLUS are great value for money.

So, enough of me gabbing away. Watch Gray and his video Gary Vaynerchuk talks about The Thank You Economy.

It is good stuff and will only take a few minutes of your time.

Filed Under: Digital Marketing Strategy, Featured Articles, Social Networks Tagged With: cialdini, reciprocity, social media, vaynerchuk

If You Own A Business But Dont Twitter Tweetglide Makes It Real

October 28, 2009 By kirkoconnor Leave a Comment

For those few of you that know me you will know I have Twitter happening on my screen all day and that I am a huge fan of this micro messaging platform.

Why, are you besotted by one or more celebrities ? Hardly. I am the least ‘celebrity conscious’ person I know.

Do you need to know what people eat for breakfast / lunch / dinner etc ? No, interaction at that level with people does not interest me at all.

So, why do you bother with Twitter ?

Well it’s simple. Twitter quite literally is the best thing I have ever used to publicize my business and to find out what the leaders in my industry are doing and learn from it.

And it points me to an awful lot of great products that are beneficial and often low priced and commonly even free.

And Twitter is free. All it takes is an hour or so of my time every day and I can control whose Tweets I see.

What Is Tweetglide and Why All The Fuss ?

A week or so ago I got an invite to sign up for a beta version of Tweetglide through Twitter.

The company that provides Tweetglide is run by Mike Filsaime – an Internet Marketing ‘guru’ (sorry cannot think of another less overused term).

Tweetglide aggregates your Twitter and Facebook stream (Seesmic does that as well I hear you chorus) BUT – it does much more besides…….

Tweetglide has an advertising ‘column’ which appears in the flow.

In short, the more you Tweet, the more free advertisements you get.

tweetglide screenshot

tweetglide screenshot

The more people you introduce to Tweetglide and who sign up for the service and Tweet through Tweetglide. The more free advertising space you get.

The more people they sign up………. etc etc etc – you get the picture.

And Tweetglide is free. You can sign up to get some paid advertising space (and they try and sell that to you as well – but good luck to them – they are not doing this because they are hippies).

But you do not have to pay for the extra advertising.

At Onlineassist4u we paid for the extra advertising because we need to get exposure to a wider audience as ours is a new business with a much wider appeal than our local area.

So check it out – watch the video and if you have a mind to be pro-active – get in early – be an early adopter.

As they say – With TweetGlide you can make money twitting :) Click here to check out Tweetglide

Filed Under: Featured Articles, Internet Marketing, Online Advertising, Social Networks Tagged With: facebook, online advertising, social networking, tweetglide, twitter

Where The Professionals Will be Spending Their Marketing Dollars

October 25, 2009 By kirkoconnor Leave a Comment

How many of you pick up and skip through the Yellow Pages when you want to find a product or service these days ?

I hazard a guess that it is far less of you than would have done that 5 years ago.

In our house we do not even know where the Yellow Pages are so, yesterday, I set off on a mission to find them.

My wife’s system of storage for household items is predictable and pretty precise (apart from when it comes to filing old bills, bank statements etc – which never get filed) so I was able to track down the big soft cover books within minutes.

Both Yellow and White Pages still in their plastic wrapper. never opened. never used. A victim of the Internet I fear.

Anyway, enough of the digression. I was only using it to prove a point that most of you know anyway – that the Internet has become the prime way to search for products and services in much of the developed world and this trend will continue as our young’uns mature and us older guns become more adept at using the technology.

A blank advertising board against a wall.

How do the professionals see the situation though ? You know, those highly skilled and highly well paid executives that must choose where to spend their (or their client’s) money to promote their products. For them the stakes are much higher.

A recent article on The New Era of Inbound Marketing by SEOMoz Blog suggests that “…. over the last two decades, we, as a generation have been drifting further and further away from it (direct sales). Door-to-door salesmen are nearly gone. The effectiveness of brand advertising, direct mail, trade show marketing and cold calling sales have all diminished rapidly in favor of a new set of channels we all use to buy – nearly all of which center around the web.”

They go on to provide a raft of figures from Forrester Research based on projected marketing investment in the next 5 years to prove their point.

So what does it mean for you as a small business owner ?

If the Yellow Pages are not being opened in my house (and there are four of us here ranging in age from 50 to 18 years of age) then they are not being opened in other people’s houses as well.

As for the online versions of these products. Well, we wouldn’t know where to find them and that goes for other online directories as well.

What do we all do ? We SEARCH on Google for whatever we need and you can just about bet that this is what most people do as well.

Now that’s OK for when we are actually looking for something but what about that advertisement that catches our attention and takes us to a website selling a product that we didn’t even know we wanted ?

That is perhaps a little bit more problematical but it is a fact that we are most likely to at least see those advertisements in places that we frequent most often. That is obvious isn’t it ?

After all, there is no point putting a billboard in a laneway with no traffic is there ?

For me it is the football sites that I visit every day or the WordPress, Internet Marketing, web coding or web design blogs that I also frequent regularly to keep up with my industry.

Or through Twitter – but that is another story and a big one at that……

For my daughter and my wife it is undoubtedly Facebook. yes Facebook, the fourth most populous ‘nation’ on the planet.

So where are you going to spend your precious advertising dollars ?I know where I am going to be spending mine………..

Filed Under: Digital Marketing Strategy, Featured Articles, Internet Marketing, Online Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Social Networks Tagged With: advertising, facebook, search engine optimization, SEO, social media

Why You Must Have a Social Media Strategy

October 22, 2009 By kirkoconnor Leave a Comment

Here at Onlineassist4u.com we have always been strong supporters of having a social media marketing strategy for your business.

This is not just about selling your stuff to a new audience it is more about interacting with your community and trusting that sales will come from that interaction.

Whether your social media marketing strategy focuses on Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn or the myriad of alternatives that exist really doesn’t matter so much – hopefully you have a strategy that straddles a number of these. The main thing is that you do have some sort of strategy and that you are engaging with your potential customers.

So Kirk, what are you telling us that’s new. You’ve said all this before why say it again ?

Well, the 20,000lb elephant has now entered the room.

Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience at Google has announced that Google “have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results.”

Google to List Tweets in Search Results
Google to List Tweets in Search Results

The full transcript of Marissa’s announcement follows;-

At Google, our goal is to create the most comprehensive, relevant and fast search in the world. In the past few years, an entirely new type of data has emerged — real-time updates like those on Twitter have appeared not only as a way for people to communicate their thoughts and feelings, but also as an interesting source of data about what is happening right now in regard to a particular topic.

Given this new type of information and its value to search, we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results. We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.

So after Video has made such a big splash in the rankings we now have the fact that Twitter tweets will also be competing for that elusive front page position for a keyword search in Google.

So, if you haven’t got a Twitter account. Get one now and get started !

And if you think that Twitter is just for finding out what certain celebrities had for lunch today you are sooooooooo wrong. Even if you are not comfortable with ‘selling’ your product or services through Twitter today you should be on Twitter if only to get the best possible information and knowledge on what’s happening in your industry right now.

Just follow the top people in your industry and you will get an amazing amount of knowledge and free information that will ensure you are well on the way to becoming an industry leader.

Filed Under: Featured Articles, Search Engine Optimization, Social Networks, Uncategorized Tagged With: google, twitter
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