Facebook Marketing Tips That You Should Know -- By Madeleine G Labitan

Social media is the rave these days. People spend more and more time using this platform to connect with everyone they know. With more than 800 million active users, Facebook continues to rule the world of social networking. And it shows no sign of going away anytime soon. That's why it is the perfect time for businesses to take advantage of the increasing popularity of the social utility. Gone were the days that you are only left with traditional options to choose from. Now, you have Facebook to thank for in order to appeal to a much wider audience.
So get your pens at the ready, and take note of these Facebook marketing tips that you can use for your business.
1) Create an impressive "About" section
Most Facebook fan pages tend to overlook this one. Creating an impressive company profile is important, especially if you want to generate more leads to your business. This will help educate customers about your company and the products and services you offer. It allows you to impart essential information to your audience, giving them an idea on how your business operates. But this doesn't mean that you have to write narrative-long profile. Bear in mind that a lengthy bio doesn't appeal to readers. Keep it short instead. A short summary which highlights the most important information will suffice.
2) Compel people to "like" your page
Don't expect people to automatically "like" your page without doing anything; because they won't. It will take a lot of hard work for the stream of leads to come pouring continuously. You'll have to earn it through promotion, promotion, and a lot of promotion. If you have a personal account, don't be afraid to ask your friends to "like" your page. Remember that you're just starting from scratch. And success doesn't happen overnight.
3) Post Engaging and Thought-Provoking Content
Get those creative juices grinding! Bland status updates won't attract "likes" and comments. They will simply sit in your fans' news feeds, largely unnoticed. What you need to post is an interesting content that will fuel reactions and generate ongoing discussions. You can even post pictures of new products and services, company events, or any other business-related photograph that will take the interest of your fans.
4) Ask Questions
The best way to keep your page visitors coming back is to give them a reason to stay. One way to do that is to ask interesting and entertaining questions. What you need to do is tap into their interests and ask questions that will keep them talking on Facebook. This is one of the most effective Facebook marketing tips since it will help you build fan engagement and loyal following if done correctly.
5) Stay Active
Facebook is a very busy and active community. There is always something happening in your newsfeed. And if you don't actively participate, you will be left behind. Remember that fan engagement doesn't end with regular post updates. If you want to achieve maximum results, you have to exert your Facebook marketing efforts. Instead of staying within your page, get out there and start connecting with other fan pages. This way, you are able to capitalize on their existing fan base and use it to your advantage.
While there are proven and tested Facebook marketing tips, the achievement rate of your business depends on how you implement them. Remember that there is no short cut to success. It takes time and effort for your business page to flourish.

Do you want to learn more about Facebook marketing and other social media promotions? Want to know how it can help your business increase its brand awareness? Click http://thesocialmediaspecialist.blogspot.com to find out!

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

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8 Steps To Creating Your Social Media Marketing Plan

Creating and online marketing strategy is vital when making the decision to add social media to your marketing campaigns/plans. A plan is needed to assess the viability, know what steps you will need to take and to aid you in staying focused on your goals.
Your plan can also help you save time by ensuring you follow a systematic approach to the tie you will invest in social marketing and network. The social networking part can easily take you off track and eat up your time if you do not pay attention to the overall picture of what you are trying to accomplish.
Here are the basics steps to any social media plan we setup for clients:
Assess
Look at what is available in your market, what competitors are doing and find out if your customers in fact using these social media channels. These answers may help you determine the goals
Purpose
Define your main purpose for using Social Media and identify the various social media channels to use.
Goals
Set at least 3 SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) goals and create an action plan to help you reach these goals. What steps will you take to reach these goals.
Content
Create a plan for what content will be published - blog posts, tweets, facebook page updates, youtube videos. This plan should include the topic of content and also how often and via what channel it will be published
Keywords
Part of the content planning would be finding the keywords your customers use when searching for your service or product online. If your business has some technical jargon that customers rarely pick up on - it is unlikely that is how they will search online for the solution to their problem (your service or product). It is imperative to find keywords they are using and add these targeted key words into your content..
Optimize
Look at all the platforms available and link them together as much as possible to help you save time. ie. Link your blog to twitter and your facebook page so when a blog post is published it will automatically feed an update to the other networks. Be certain to make a flowchart so you understand what automatically goes to what network in order to avoid any cross posting.
Track
As much as you can track your results do it. Keep a record of your contacts/ facebook friends/page likes/twitter followers/linked in contact /newsletter subscribers and results on Google for your name, business and keywords. Check the results every month and see how it changes. Read your analytics on your website and adjust keywords/tactics to fit with what is working well or not form these reports. With social media marketing, businesses may set goals related to brand identity and levels of engagement.
Schedule
Take time to schedule in all the aspects of your plan and work at it to keep on top of it and following the plan. Stay focused and use your time wisely.
Following these steps will help you network much more effectively and in a way that does not find you looking up from your computer wondering where the last hour went. Stay focused!

Kathy Colaiacovo, is a Virtual Assistant whose firm specializes in Social Media Services but also assist their clients with many other business support needs; websites and maintenance, blogs, newsletters, ezines to name a few. Clients value this support in order to create the time needed to grow their own business.
Kathy invites you to learn more about working with a Virtual Assistant by inviting you to sign up for their monthly eNewsletter, you will also receive a complimentary copy of their Social Media Guide.

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

Facebook Is Getting A Closer Look by Privacy Groups

We all knew this would become a hot topic after Facebooks most recent changes in their sharing policy.
All your info on facebook is available to marketers when you join,like or in some way authorize a third party application.

Here is an article on what some are concerned about.

CLICK HERE to be taken to the article.