Why You Need to Be Using the New FourSquare Social Media Network For Your Business --- By Carl Gerber

There is a new buzzword in Social media management, Geosocial Networking, and if you own a business that markets to the public, you need to take advantage of it. First of all it is free. And, second of all, whether you proactively use it or not, your company's reputation is being created by the networks users.
What is Geosocial Networking? Geosocial Networking is where users of iPhones, Droids and other mobile devices with GPS or similar location functions, inform other members in the network when they visit a business or use its services. Users can rate the business, for example, 'the food is great here at xyz restaurant,' and send out the message to all users in the network, sometimes thousands of people. The tips or reviews of the businesses pop up on network users' phones when they look up or are near the location of the business. This is free publicity for your business, and if people like what you offer, it is the best kind of publicity - word of mouth.
FourSquare and Gowalla are the most popular Geosocial applications, sometimes called location based services (LBS). The growth of users is staggering. In 2010 93 percent of people from the ages of 18 to 29 have mobile phones. 39 percent of people use location services like GPS on their phones. 73 percent of people use a mobile application to check in to social networking services. As of July 2010 there are two million users on FourSquare. There are 5.8 million businesses and locations on FourSquare. And, in June 2010 17 people checked into FourSquare every second.
That's a lot of potential buzz for your business.
Using FourSquare is relatively easy and at this time business registration is free. An added benefit is the statistics they provide businesses who are registered.
Facebook and Twitter are by far the most popular networking platforms. All businesses should have profiles on Facebook and Twitter, and a Fan Page on Facebook. If you have these they should be updated consistently to maximize your CRM (customer relationship management). Blogs are also a great tool to connect with your customers. A social media marketing company can be of great assistance in helping you create your online presence and maintain it properly.
Whether you enlist the services of a social media management company, or have someone in your company do it, you need to be proactive. Large companies know this (In 2010, Pepsi Cola pulled its ads out of the Super Bowl for the first time in 21 years, and instead used social marketing). Are you using the new social media to its greatest advantage in your company?

Carl Gerber has been pioneering internet technology for over twelve years. His biggest passion is Social Media Management and Marketing. He is founder of Social Media Pathways whose mission is assist business create and maintain a powerful presence and positive reputation for their services through this powerful new medium. Are you taking advantage of the new Social Media Marketing? Visit Social Media Pathways for tips, how to's and other great resources on how to negotiate the path of Social Media. Social Media Management Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carl_Gerber

Advantages of Twitter Scheduling Tools

Chad Ochocino didn't have to pay $25,000 to tweet -- There are Free Twitter Tools to schedule your tweets
The NFL just fined Pro Football Social Media Guru, Chad Ochocinco $25,000 for tweeting. The league has an electronic communications blackout policy which prevents players from using electronic communications devices like cell phones and computers beginning 90 minutes before kick-off and lasting until the end of their games. While Chad quickly responded that the $25,000 fine equaled about two months worth of vehicle payments for him (in other words, so what), he could have avoided the fine by using readily available free tools.
These tools allow you to schedule tweets or other social media status updates for a wide range of sites including Facebook, Ping.fm, LinkedIn and Twitter. The more advanced services allow you to track your activity across several social media profiles as well as setting up tweets/updates in advance and scheduling them for delivery whenever you like.
Hootsuite (hootsuite.com) is my personal favorite. Hootsuite offers versions of their service that you can use via your desktop computer, ( using their free downloaded software), a web browser or smartphones like Blackberry and iPhone. They have recently introduced a new 'freemium' model where some more advanced features are now available for a fee but the free service works just fine for me. This tool is my favorite because it offers a very broad range of social media sites for integration, is simple and easy to set-up and allows me to update ping.fm which takes care of all my other social media sites with one click. It also offers the ability to schedule updates for individual specific sites as well.
SocialOomph (socialoomph.com) offers many of the same services as the other tools but also has additional integration tools for Twitter. You can use this service to automatically follow everyone who follows you as well as to send automatic direct messages to your new followers. This service is another mixed-model offering with some additional functions available for a fee but you can certainly try the service for free first.
Two more limited services are LaterBro (laterbro.com) and CoTweet (cotweet.com). LaterBro offers integration with Twitter and Facebook only but if you are only using those two social media sites, it might be worth a look. CoTweet (cotweet.com) integrates with Twitter and Ping.fm only so you will need to schedule any other social media sites through ping.fm if you select this tool.
If you only want to schedule tweets you can try Future Tweets (futuretweets.com), Dynamic Tweets (dynamictweets.com) or Tweet-U-Later (tweetulater.com). While these three Twitter tools are very similar, Dynamic Tweets will let you create a file of future updates and upload them at one time. And TweetULater will let you schedule Direct Messages in addition to tweets.
Success with social media marketing requires consistent profile updates as well as relationship-building interaction. While you could certainly outsource the interactions it is simple to use one of these automated tools to do a number of updates at one time and have them delivered over a period of time. A small investment of time up-front will pay off with increased online activity and interaction. And if you are a professional football player who likes to tweet a lot, these tools can certainly save you a lot of money.

Come join the conversation about online marketing. Visit http://www.allegramsinclair.com for more articles on social marketing techniques and tips.
From Allegra Sinclair, Online and Network Marketing Coach
© Copyright - Allegra M. Sinclair. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Allegra_Sinclair

Social Media in Plan English