Getting Fans and Engaging With Customers on Facebook - Part 1

There is no super secret on how to succeed on Facebook: it's all about hard work. The platform was created around personal relationships, and that's what you have to focus on. There are many strategies you can use to connect with your fans, but we are going to start simple. Right after you finish setting up your business page, Facebook will show you 4 ways to get fans: Invite your friends, tell your fans, post status updates and promote this page on your website.

1. Invite your friends: In this option you will be able to invite your friends from your personal account to join your page. Just click on INVITE FRIENDS, and choose who you want to invite. Check the box next to the person's name, and then click on SUBMIT. Facebook will automatically invite them to like your page.

2. Tell your fans: That's the most effective way to get fans, but you'll need to have an email database or an email account to link to Facebook. 

How LinkedIn Can Be Part of Your SEO Solution

LinkedIn is very SEO-friendly and therefore, is a service you should use. I use LinkedIn and find it more valuable by the day. "SEO," in layman's terms, means using Internet tools to help your ideal customers find you, your products and your services. When you first visit www.linkedin [dot] com and create an account, you create a personal profile. The profile reads like a Resume. It has your name, current job, previous job(s), education and recommendations. Because the LinkedIn profile reads like a Resume, I tell people to have their complete Resume in electronic format before creating their LinkedIn profile. They can simply copy and paste text from the Resume to the LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn is very SEO friendly. I've had several occasions when I posted an entry at LinkedIn, Googled my name and found that entry at the top of the list. Not only did Google pick up the new entry within 30 seconds, but it also placed that entry at the top of the Search Results window.

Is Your Business Missing Out On These 5 Advantages Of Facebook Marketing?

As Facebook users breached the 900 million mark this March of 2012, the value of Facebook marketing has significantly increased again. Such a large user base means that Facebook is a leading source of user-generated content in the web, and that in itself makes the social network very valuable for business through:

Ratings and Reviews

A simple 'Like' might not be an explicit recommendation, but for people who have a friend on Facebook that 'Likes' something, they can easily see and feel the positive reinforcement it brings to whatever item or content was 'liked.' And then, of course, there are actual comments. This facet of Facebook that provides multiple ways to rate or review items, Fan pages, or content is quite invaluable to businesses.

How Social Media Has Affected People's Ability to Communicate Effectively

During the 20th century the school systems made it a part of their curriculum to teach students good communication in English class. Towards the end of the century and technology influenced the business more and more, especially the use of social media where people could communicate in the least amount of space, people started losing their ability to communicate effectively.

Before the advent of social media on the Internet, people networked by attending Chamber of Commerce after hours meetings, where they would introduce themselves, pass out their business cards, and develop a one on one relationship by talking face-to-face. On social media you can befriend someone, whether you know them or not. This can be a good method of building a business, but at the same time you don't know if this is a criminal that you are connecting with.