Showing posts with label social. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social. Show all posts

Wednesday, 27 March 2013

The Three Essential Components to My Online Posting Business: Blogging, Social, and Email

As writers, we’re always under time pressure to complete more. Whether it’s delivering an item or engaging with customers on the new social networking, the blogger’s task list can appear overwhelming sometimes.

I believe a number of that overwhelm originates from the granularity that we tend to check out our work. While breaking large challenges lower into littler ones is a great way to tackle things, concentrating on the small odds and ends in our work can stop us seeing the problem, and also the natural connections between your individual things we’re doing.

Lately on #blogchat we'd attorney at law about where social networking suits blogging. Should you see that question on the really granular basis—”What will my next status update actually cover?”—then it can be hard to determine where social networking might or may not work nicely. But when you consider the problem, you’ll most likely be more prone to request, “Where doesn’t social networking squeeze into blogging?”

Obviously we want a little more direction than that to sort out the best way to invest our time as writers, so today I figured I’d explain a little about my method of connecting blogging, social networking, and email.

Freeway cloverleaf Image by Phillip C, licensed under Creative Commons

Blogging is in the centre of the items I actually do. My blog is my home base and is how I put the majority of my efforts. My blog is really a place that another company like Twitter, or Facebook or G can’t remove from me basically break their tos or maybe they alter their approach. It’s within my control and it is where I ultimately build my logo and community.

My blog is really a place where conversation and conversion certainly happens, but when I needed to title my primary focus in my blog it might be that it's a place that we use to create content that’s helpful to my visitors.

My hope is the fact that each day on my small blogs, I help solve problems large and small in my visitors with the content I produce there.

My blog is really a place that's frequently the very first reason for connection with people. It’s a location where I really hope I’m in a position to create an impact upon them which will bring them for connecting more meaningfully in some manner.

Social networking is really a place that we mainly use for conversation and community. While this stuff also happen around the blog in comments, I've found progressively that individuals wish to connect and converse off my blog.

I am inclined to concentrate on Twitter mainly, but Facebook has progressively be a place where my photography blog visitors go and G can also be growing for me personally in by doing this.

I actually do use social networking for other purposes—I utilize it to drive traffic towards my blog for instance, I from time to time produce content onto it (particularly on G where I frequently think aloud), and that i even promote my e-books onto it every so often too (although I've found it doesn’t convert anywhere near in addition to email—more with that in just a minute).

Each one of these things can be achieved on social networking, however for me it's more a spot for conversation and interaction.

I’ve discussed the significance of email many occasions on ProBlogger—it may be the best element I’ve put into my blogging since i have began out 10 years ago.

Email does a lot of things for me—it’s a terrific way to bring customers, it can benefit with building community and driving individuals to points of engagement, it can also be accustomed to deliver content. However for me its stand-out benefit has existed driving sales: conversion.

Read this graphic which shows where sales in our e-books originate from.

Email conversions on dPS

You can observe here that:

87% in our sales originate from email7% originate from our blog posts3% originate from social media3% originate from our affiliate marketers.

Since we began to write e-books, I’ve attempted many different ways to advertise them, however the top-transforming method each time I’ve examined continues to be email.

Blogging, social networking and email have  become vital facets of my company. I can’t imagine departing one of these simple elements out.

All of them is helpful in a number of ways—in fact, I frequently use each one of the elements to advertise others, when i find they work nicely to strengthen each other.

For instance, when someone subscribes to the e-newsletter on dPS they have an email soon after that informs them about our social networking accounts. Every so often on our social accounts we promote the e-mail e-newsletter, and that we regularly promote your blog posts we publish there, too.

In delivering people backwards and forwards towards the different aspects of what we should do, I've found they be built-into the city. The brand’s recognition develops among a larger audiences by doing this, but individuals’ connections using the brand deepen, too.

In using this discussion one step or two further, tomorrow’s publish examines some good situation good examples of the methods email and blogging could be integrated to aid a effective affiliate marketing, so I’ll have an interest to listen to that which you think about individuals approaches.

And then week, we’ll be taking an in-depth take a look at how writers are utilizing social media—specifically Pinterest—to support their blogging goals.

The mixing of social networking and email with blogging is a nice topical dilemma for several people, so let’s hear your sights within the comments.


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Friday, 4 January 2013

How Embedded Social News Grew My Content, Traffic, and Engagement, and Saves Me Time [Case Study]

This guest post is by Brian Lippey of Guitar Shop TV.

Every blogger wants to offer the best content to his or her audience.

With Guitar Shop TV (GSTV), I set out to create an online community for passionate guitar fans and music lovers around the world.  My goal was to offer the best guitar-related content to my audience.

To achieve this, the GSTV team has filmed over 200 hours of original online TV content. We update our blog regularly—with everything from live performances and backstage interviews, to commentary on upcoming album releases and the latest guitar gear. We tweet. We post on Facebook. We even have an on-site guitar shop.

But audiences today have a large appetite for content! With over 100 million guitarists and countless guitar music fans in the world, it’s important that our content’s fresh, entertaining and timely. Guitar news happens fast, making it difficult to churn out blog posts on everything out there.

Our audience is also very vocal about guitar-related content, as is evident on our Facebook page.

As creator of GSTV, I was looking for a social news platform that could deliver top guitar content from across the Web directly to our blog and allow users to participate on a social level. We want to engage music enthusiasts, not talk at them.

Our research led us to new social platform, ROCKZi.

ROCKZi is a social news platform that helps us deliver a fun community experience and share relevant content with our users. Unlike other social platforms that draw your readers to their networks, with this one, the traffic is directed to my blog, which gave me increased opportunities to attract more music fans and expand our community.

The platform lets you customize the content so that it really speaks to your blog’s audience. It let us pick a news category that was relevant specifically to our blog. For most websites, a category probably already exists, but if not, you can create one yourself.

We literally embedded the platform on our News page in three easy steps.

I was relived I didn’t need a developer to completely redesign our website—we had it up and running on our blog in about five minutes. The platform allowed us to alter the appearance of the content, so it fit nicely on our news page and matched our web design.

Since embedding the platform in August, we have seen traffic to the site increase by 25%. The average time spent on the page has also increased by four minutes.

Our readers started to come back to our site more often to educate themselves on guitar-related news that had been shared by otehrs in our community. And when they are on our site scanning the headlines, they do more than just read.

The platform comes pre-loaded with social tools that let readers post comments on stories, vote the best stories to the top, or submit their own stories they’ve discovered on the Web about the latest musicians or guitar gear.

So you can see what I mean when I say that this tool gives our site more than just good content.

It’s adding a social experience to the site that is bringing readers back more often to engage with other readers around content our audience cares most about.

We’re getting more traffic than Sturgis in August! And readers can pin, post, Facebook or tweet stories right from the page on our site, allowing them to feel more like a part of the community.

All the interactions between your users and the content that’s shared on your site (votes, shares, comments, etc.) will generate direct links through their social networks that will point directly back to your blog.

Do you use a social news tool on your blog? Have you tried ROCKZi? Share your experiences with us in the comments.

Founder Brian Lippey has a background that combines music and business. In Guitar Shop TV, Brian combines his passion for and knowledge of guitars with his strong business acumen.


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Keep Your New Year’s Resolution: Set up a Social, Search-optimized WordPress Blog … Today

This guest post is by Marcela De Vivo of Gryffin.co.

Recently ProBlogger discussed how to brand your blog, how to find your voice, and how to build your authority.

Mouse Image courtesy stock.xchng user panoramadi

These articles are powerful, but often I find myself speaking with people who don’t have a blog yet, or are using Blogger or custom made, cumbersome platforms. Just this week alone I went through these steps with four different people who want to jump on the blogging bandwagon.

In this article we will go back to basics for those who haven’t started their blog yet, or who are on platforms that are hindering their progress.

If one of your New Year’s Resolutions was to improve your blogging presence—or start a new one—read on!

We’ll go through a step-by-step process, including tools and resources for each step, to set up a WordPress blog that is optimized for social and search marketing success.

WordPress is currently the most popular content management platform.  It can be used for static pages or as a blog.  You can add plugins for a shopping cart, image galleries, and much more.

Here’s how to set it up.

Register your domain with sites like Register.com, Godaddy.com, or Enom.comCreate a hosting account with sites like BlueHost.com, WPEngine, or HostGator.  If you would like to do more research on hosting companies, check out WhoIsHostingThis.Select a WordPress theme. I personally love using StudioPress as the themes are clean, functional, and easy to work with. Search for a responsive theme so your blog will be accessible to mobile users.Is your site running on a different CMS or platform? Consider using a blog migration service, such as BlogWranglers, to move your current site over to WordPress. Hundreds of thousands have done it, with no regrets.Upload WordPress to your hosting account, and customize with your relevant theme.  If you are not a techie, this is the part where you’ll need some help.  Check out Elance.com, Freelancer.com, or a site like Craiglist.org to find someone who can help you set up and customize your template.Install WordPress plugins.

Let’s take a deeper look at the plugins you’ll need.

These are the social media plugins I recommend you consider.

My favorite SEO plugins include these ones.

Usability plugins can be a huge help. Consider these:

To gain exposure from search engines, you need to have your blog focused on a theme. Select a primary keyword within this general theme for each page of the site.  You can read more about keyword research in this ProBlogger article.

Select keywords by identifying low-competition and high-search terms for your industry from Google’s Keyword tool.

Other tools you can use include:

.

While a designer/programmer is working on setting up your site, you can start by writing and preparing content for your site.

A well-optimized page includes the primary keywords in the Title of the page, Meta Description tag, H1 tag, once or twice in the body, and in an outbound link.

As you’re preparing your content, remember these elements of an excellent blog post:

Post title: creative and compellingSocial share icons: make sharing your content easyImage: an image speaks louder than wordsOpening paragraph: include keywords in a teaser into the introductionBody copy: use headers and bold wordsLists: make your content easy to scanConclusion: include a teaser for your next articleRelated posts: give them more content to consumeComment section: Always respond to comments

Read Darren’s compilation from earlier this year for more information on each element in The Anatomy of a Better Blog Post.

By this point you should have a WordPress blog with a range of enhancements made possible by plugins and other customizations.  You will have SEO plugins to improve your on-page SEO, page load times, keyword density, site maps, and other relevant SEO features.

You will also have a selection of social plugins so that you can encourage social shares from your site. You will have other features such as contact forms, tracking, reporting, and an email signup box to build your email list.

Incorporating keyword research will help you to deliver the content that people are looking for in a way that lets it be found.  You can write articles based on long-tail terms, answer questions that your audience may have, and target hundreds of keywords by writing articles specific to each one.

So what are you waiting for? Make your New Year’s Resolution a reality and start your new blog today. And if you have any suggestions of plugins, tools, or services to add to this list, please do share!

Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer who writes about blogging, SEO and social media at Gryffin.co/blog.


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Sunday, 30 December 2012

15 Social Media Mistakes that are Strangling Your Success

While it’s not new, I’m often surprised by the way bloggers use—and mis-use—social media.

Each of us has our own blogging journey, and we use different tools in our own unique ways. Yet there are still quite a few very common errors that I continue to see bloggers making as they work with social media.

Norwegian_viper Image by stock.xchng user

These mistakes have the potential to make your social media experience a struggle—if not put you off it completely. But if you persist with them over time, they have the potential to do significant harm to your brand and your blog.

Think about it: social media is a very public space, perhaps even more public than your blog. Although we might not be conscious of it, every time we make a status update on a social network, we have the potential to reach a huge audience of people we don’t know through others sharing our messages.

That can happen whether the messages are good or bad, for better or for worse.

Take a look at these 15 mistakes, which definitely send the wrong message. Then, let me know in the comments if you’re making any of these errors.

We all know that social media is an engagement tool, but how many of us treat it that way?

What’s your ratio of “broadcast” updates to direct, personal updates that address other users individually? And who are those direct updates to—friends and family and people you feel “safe” with, or are you reaching out to new contacts, readers, and others in your niche?

While you may not want to connect with everyone on every social network, the blogger looking to build an online presence should focus on responding to contacts from others on social media.

Avoiding one-word responses is ideal—look for ways to connect naturally and easily with every person who approaches you, and you’ll see real benefits from social media.

Where are your users congregating online? Which networks do they use? Are you on those networks, or are you holding off because you think you don’t have enough time or energy to tackle a new network?

Not long ago, I started developing the dPS presence on Pinterest, and I’ve never looked back. While there’s no perfect time for anything, leaving yourself out of a social network where your audience is active could mean you’re leaving money on the tqble—or readers out of the loop!

On your post pages, do you offer readers the option to share the post on social networks and the opportunity to follow you on those networks?

Offering one or the other is better than nothing, but it’s important to offer both. Of course, your follow buttons might appear in a location that’s globally available throughout your blog—like in the header or sidebar. But do make sure users have both options.

If a reader contacts you on social media, do you follow them?

While following massive numbers of people can be overwhelming, if you’re just starting out on a new network, connecting with those who contact you is a great way to make the most of the medium and get a feel for what your readers are doing on that network.

Connecting with people from your broader niche is an excellent way to stay abreast of news and get on the radars of others you haven’t met, but whose work you admire.

Who knows? They might follow you back—and share your updates with their followers. But even if they don’t, you have the potential to get a sound perspective of the players in your niche, and their work, on social media.

Every blogger and blog brand has a range of facets, but these need to be carefully managed—even curated—if you want to give your followers a clear idea of who you are and what you’re about.

Chop and change in the way you approach a given network or your followers, or present your brand, and you might do more harm than good.

Following on from the previous point, you will have readers who follow you on multiple networks, so it’s important to present yourself and behave consistently in all your dealings, whatever the network.

Your blog’s Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest accounts should share brand characteristics, even if you target the information you share with each network individually.

Social networks have come a long way since they were first launched. Even the more recent arrivals to this industry are evolving new features all the time. Yet many of us ignore these developments, and just keep posting the same stuff, day in, day out.

Are you aware of the features of each of the networks you’re using? Are you up-to-date with what each network offers your blog? If you’re not, you could be missing valuable opportunities to promote your blog, to meet potential readers, and eventually, to make sales.

At the most basic level, it’s worth knowing what portion of your blog’s traffic comes from social media, and from which networks.

This knowledge can help you focus your efforts, prioritize your work, and manage your time to best effect. It can also help you to respond to one-off traffic events arising from particular networks.

On the other side of the coin, it’s also important to keep an eye on how much your content is shared. I’ve found this particularly useful when I’ve joined a new network, as it helps me to understand what works in that space and what doesn’t.

Looking at what’s shared—in terms of blog content and my own social media updates—is an essential step in making the most of a social network.

Similarly, it’s important to track not just what people on a given social network are saying about your blog and brand, but also about your niche itself. Social listening is the answer.

This can give you post ideas, opportunities to connect with readers on topical issues that they care about—even ideas for updating your blog’s layout or post categorisation. Social media listening is a great way to get to know what your audience is thinking and feeling.

The listening doesn’t stop there, though. you can also set up searches for social media discussions of your main competitors, or key players in your niche, and find out what the audience has to say about them.

This can help you find gaps in your market for information and commentary, give you prodict ideas, and a lot more.

This is a big one. Even if your social media followers are in your timezone, there are going to be better and worse times to share on social media.

If you’re listening to find out the way your niche works on social media, you should have an idea of when its players—organizations and audience members—are most active. By tying that information to the traffic and sharing tracking mentioned above, you should be able to piece together a picture of the best times to get traction from social media among your target readership.

Social media has its place, but it’s only one way to reach the people you want to read your blog. It’s one piece in a big promotional puzzle, and it’s one that’s actually independent of a digital presence that you own.

That presence is on your blog itself. But if you only ever use social media to try to get people to your site, you’ll soon kill off any goodwill you’d established. This is why social media really should be used as part of a broader promotional toolkit that lets you attract some of the other kinds of readers we mentioned late last week.

Are you making any of these 15 mistakes? They could be slowly strangling your blog’s authority, brand, and ability to attract new readers! Share your thoughts—and tips for social media success—with us in the comments.


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Tuesday, 13 March 2012

Sky! My child is on social networks!

Many concerned parents to see their children spend hours on social networks. Most of the time, this fear comes from ignorance towards of the latter. But rest assured, here are 6 tips to help you well to guide your children on the networks!

1 / Don't be afraid of social networks!

The main concern of the parents is that their offspring will bad meetings. Let us be clear! There are now various simple ways to find photos of children on the Internet: via the web site of the City Hall, the blog of the swim club or a simple search on Google!

Go on social networks is not a danger in itself for your children, if they are well used. There are many ways to frame the access to information. This can even become an asset to educate your children to the Internet, learn best practices and inform them of the dangers to avoid.

2 / Become an informed user!

It is by relying on our own experiences, we can advise others. What better then to refer your children on social, to be yourself these networks? Create an account on Facebook or Twitter to become "experts" in this field and make your advice on its use. Who knows, perhaps there will you taste?

3 / Practice family!

First of all, help your children create their accounts or blogs until there can be the only one. As mentioned previously, you'll tell them what it takes to do and not to do on these media. Then network together! This allows you to get used to your presence in their virtual lives. You will see that they will be able to demonstrate exceptional self-regulation of their publications: difficult indeed to talk about his first folly as we know that dad MOM can read the message!

4 / Let their a bit of freedom!

Do not spend your time to watch for any message of your children on social networks. It's unnecessary! If you have well advised them before, it should not be a major problem. Let us therefore live their digital lives and also learn by themselves!

5 / Ban the PC of the rooms!

And Yes, let's be lucid! Put a computer in the room of an ado and hope that he will make a moderate use, is to live in a dream! Therefore, not computer in the rooms. Choose a family place or you can regulate the time spent on social networks. It takes time for everything: to do his homework, see its true friends and especially sleep!

6 / Perform a technology watch!

It is important that you keep abreast of developments in social networks: new features, new networks, new practices. The purpose is simple: your knowledge to better advise and monitor your children!

Here are now armed for good advise your children in the vortex of social networks! RDV on Facebook!

Source: Aubistrogeek

Social networks: Guapa as wrong…

Juice, Juice Boost Guapa. A national undertaking, a global group. Common ground: the products proposed and the target audience. Comparative analysis of their use of Facebook.

How to pass the tasting of a juice of fresh fruit to the analysis of 2 Facebook pages ? I explain the path.

I don't know you but making step races, is not what I prefer. Then, if after the effort, there is a bit of comfort, so take advantage. I stop in a sign Guapa and command a good fresh fruit juice. Guapa, you see? Are these kiosks to juice in popular places. You often get there guided by the smell of fruit. Ah this sensory marketing !

Sometimes, drink the juice Guapa, it deserves. The queue is long, the patience of rigour. A human impulse is to get the first available thing to pass the time. A pamphlet, for example. I consult quickly and surprise me: no mention of Facebook page. Is Guapa the deadlock on social networks? Bizarre…

I go home me and Type "Guapa Juice" in the Facebook search engine. Here, I note that the company has a page and is well supplied: 2 973 people like Guapa (Friday February 24 figures). Where do these people come from? Site Internet de Guapa? No, there is no way to access the Facebook brand page via the website. A site that is, poor in content. First strategic error : having a Facebook page and not promote on its Web site. I, again, consult the pamphlet and notes that Facebook page is well cited in any small at the bottom of page. Second strategic error : do not insert the Facebook logo on the brochure.

You will tell me "it tells us the number of fans of the page then that what is important is the commitment". I turn there. On 2 973 "fans" of the page, only 19 people speak of the mark. In an article entitled, "How to calculate the rate of commitment of a Facebook page?", Amélie Broutin, proposes to divide the number of "people who speak" by the number of "people who like the page" and multiply the result by 100. For Guapa, which gives a rate of 0.64% commitment ((19/2973) ** 100). This relatively low rate is explained by the type of the company post. Mostly, the company communicates vertically (it position menus, recipes,...) and not begin the conversation with his fans.

I seek a point of comparison and reminds me that in Australia (and Yes, I went there and even that this is superb), I was accustomed to Boost fresh fruit juices. Boost Juice, it is a global group that has over 230 stores (2009 figures). Comparable to Guapa don't? If not for the similarity between the products and (young) audience. I am on the Boost web site. First observation: more rich in content, this site has a Facebook icon.

On the Boost Juice Facebook page, I do not want the number of fans but their commitment. On 42 971 fans of the brand, 500 to speak. Which gives a rate of 1.16% commitment ((500/42971) ** 100), significantly higher than that of Guapa. The explanation is, once again, in the type of post. Boost Juice has well understood what the Facebook hearing expected. The company offers playful and participatory content. The Boost is horizontal. It speaks directly to his fans.

It can be concluded three things: 1) the rate of commitment is not inversely proportional to the number fans. Can have a lot of fans and a good commitment. Everything is a question of content. (2) Facebook is social fun and conversation. The marks shall be taken into account in their communication strategy. (3) The marketing should not be costly to operate. It is possible, as Boost Juice, create viral content alone from a humorous post, a question, a photo,... Web 2.0, companies are on the same footing of equality.

This article did you like? Share the.

If you want, we can continue the discussion on my Facebook page or Twitter.

Monday, 12 March 2012

Social Media Demographics [Infographic]

OnlineMBA.com just sent us a really interesting infographic called “A Case Study in Social Media Demographics”. I know you all see a lot of IGs, but this one has some different information to consider such as: Gender Age Education Household Income There is data for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Linkedin, Reddit and digg. So take [...]

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Sunday, 11 March 2012

Think Before You Pay Too Much for Social Media Monitoring

With the meteoric rise of social media marketing, it only makes sense that tools to monitor those marketing efforts would proliferate. Paid tools run the gamut, from blessedly affordable (for solopreneurs and small businesses) to outrageously expensive (only the big guys can even hope to afford them) Just like Web analytics tools, social media reporting systems [...]

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Wednesday, 7 March 2012

How to Teach Your Boss About the Social World Outside of Facebook & Twitter

Your boss finally relented and gave in to a company Facebook page. He okayed your request to join “the Twitter.” But when it comes to the other social media sites of the world? He’s more clueless than your 90-year-old grandma. Whether you’re selling a company Google+ page or trying to open your boss’s eyes to [...]

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Saturday, 3 March 2012

Consumers Need Keep Social Comments Close to Chest to Avoid Identity Theft

Have you considered the unfortunate event of identity theft?  A Washington Post article directs attention to a recent report; 36 million people experienced ‘breaches’ in 2011.  A security breach doesn’t guarantee someone adopts your identity; but, it’s not a great situation to be in: “Those who suffer data breaches are 9.5 times more likely to be [...]

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Is SEO Really SEO Anymore? Index Search Down 50%, Apps and Social Search Exploding

Recently, the game-changer to rule them all occurred; as we know, search engines have moved social. For SEO content developers, this means we’ve got to get our content onto social networking platforms. And in order to do this, it’s got to get used, and it’s got to keep the user in mind. But there’s another [...]

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Thursday, 1 March 2012

The one about all kinds of marketing and social stuff…

We really didn’t have a big agenda today.  That’s actually a good thing because we tend to fit a lot more into the show and talk about unexpected but cool things more often – at least WE think so.

What do YOU think?

 Related:

Tagged as: google, local marketing, twitter

Wednesday, 4 August 2010

How To: Use Social Media to Get a Job

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

How To: Use Social Media to Get a Job

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Tuesday, 3 August 2010

Social Profit Formula Bonus

How To: Use Social Media to Get a Job

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

How To: Use Social Media to Get a Job

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Monday, 12 July 2010

The Social Network: Facebook Movie Trailer 2 [Video]

The One About Thinking Big and How Much Social Media Sites Are Worth

Listen to internet radio with JackHumphrey on Blog Talk RadioLinks from the show…Twitter Search (Advanced) ExampleConvert Video To iPad FormatCrazy Viral Videos: Lesson in Viral Marketing -  Vid 1 Vid 2How Much Are Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn worth?New Gmail Feature:  Rich Text SignaturesRelated articles…Silicon Alley Insider: The Internet Is NOT Doomed! (AMZN, AAPL) (businessinsider.com)The Top Ten Social Marketing Sites (brighthub.com)Monitor Your Social Reputation With Social Mention! (socialmediadudes.com)

Thursday, 1 July 2010

Businesses Add E-commerce to Social Media Pages

Monetizing social media can be one of the toughest riddles for marketers to solve.  You get a lot of followers, they comment on your content, and so on. But how can you convert a follower into a customer?

Facebook and Myspace are making the solution a lot simpler.  They are now allowing applications that enable businesses to add e-commerce stores directly to their fan pages.  Now a follower can visit a fan page and find a listing of products directly on the page.  When you click on a product, you are either taken to the merchant’s web store or you complete the checkout process inside the social media platform

In response to this relatively new feature, businesses are turning to social media for yet another way to point customers directly to their products.

Some businesses have seen a significant increase in their annual sales thanks to this new marketplace option.  The Wall Street Journal told the story of one guitar shop owner who saw his profits go up by 17% in 1 year, thanks in part to having his products listed on his Facebook page.  Not bad if you ask me.

I’ll admit this new step has the potential to really alter the social media experience, so it must be taken very carefully.  But, if and when it’s used the right way, it can be an extremely effective tool to monetize your social media.

On top of that, merchant’s who have little or no online presence will have a really easy new

Social Media Assistants: A small but GROWING market. Want in?

I honestly can’t think of a more exciting thing to hear.  A niche market that is small but growing.  This means 2 things: 1- there is an increasing demand for the product or service 2- the market still has an even playing field (i.e. the 800 pound Gorilla isn’t in the room yet).

In the end this means that there is some serious money to be made.

What market am I referring to? Social media virtual assistants of course.

Until now, the role of a virtual assistant has been confined to running

Followers