RSS blog for www.traffikworks.com

Amazing Stats: Social Media is No Fad

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:09:00 GMT

Here are some comments about the now classic video on the power of social media at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYPQjYhv8

"Any business who is denying the relevance of social media should open their eyes"

"Very poignant considering my company just went through training on how to effectively use social media."

"Wow!"

There is an updated version of the video at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng

Among the amazing stats:

* 35% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands

* Only 14% of consumers trusts ads, but 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations

* Many young people regards email as passe. They rely on social networking instead. Some universities have stopped distributing email accounts.

TraffikWorks

How Social Media Levels The Playing Field

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:03:00 GMT

How Social Media Levels The Playing Field

If you're not devoting at least 20% of your marketing budget to social media, you're probably making a big mistake. And a true social marketing strategy goes well beyond just hiring an intern to do a few Twitter posts.

Here's what a leading author says:

I have always taken the approach that a good social strategy is simply a different lens on a good business strategy. I’ve spent a lot of time working with various functional groups in my organization trying to get an effective social strategy in place. I really feel that these tools are going to change the way we all do business. And I can see that a few “tweets” and a few more “fans” or “friends” are not going to produce bottom-line results.
Read more:

http://www.storefrontbacktalk.com/social-networks/social-media-to-cost-20-percent-of-budget/#ixzz11OTJeUlE

TraffikWorks

Learning From a Cupcake Success

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:58:00 GMT

Learning From a Cupcake Success

What do cupcakes have to do with social media?

In the case of Foiled Cupcakes, quite a lot. That's what makes it an interesting case study.

Read an interview with company founder Beth Harte at

http://www.socialconversations.com/2010/03/social-media-case-study-foiled-cupcakes/

It's certainly food for thought!

TraffikWorks

The End of One Way Marketing

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:18:00 GMT

The End of One Way Marketing

One way marketing has had its day, as this video demonstrates in just two minutes.

http://bit.ly/cQWXSA

Research shows that online marketing, including social marketing, is now the most influential source in helping consumers make purchasing decisions.

Social marketing is less about campaigns than connections. It's a way of harnessing the most powerful form of marketing: personal referrals. Your competitors are already doing social marketing. Your customers have been particpating for a long time. If you're not there, you're being left behind. Why risk losing business?

Facebook now has over 500 million users, about one person in 14 on the planet. Twitter projects it will have over one billion users by 2012. So social networks are becoming the pulse of the planet. The era of constant updates and keeping in touch with your friends and their activities is upon us. Another trend is the move to mobile devices. The next 3 billion consumers will access the Internet from a mobile device. Already, 32% of web browsing takes place on smartphones.

Call it the "super fresh" web. It's forcing brands to engage with its customers. Much more on all this in the video at http://bit.ly/cQWXSA

TraffikWorks

How Whole Foods Did It

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:15:00 GMT

How Whole Foods Did It

When it comes to online brand-building, few companies do it better than Whole Foods. They understand it's all about getting employees talking to customers. The Whole Food website lists Facebook accounts for not only the main Whole Foods account, but also individual stores.

http://bit.ly/b2LoMO

Kyle Lacy says this is a smart move for five reasons.

1. It says that Whole Foods trusts its people. The company empowers its managers to speak online about their favorite beers, store events, jobs, you name it.

2. Potential applicants get a genuine glimpse of their local store’s culture. Knowing the culture of the Company-with-a-capital-C is only half of the story; future employees also want to know what it’s really like to work for their neighborhood store.

3. Allows Whole Foods to become a community. By creating these pages Whole Foods has embraced the idea of creating a community. Where customers begin to think of their trip to Whole Foods as a community experience rather versus just a trip to the store.

4. Through empowering its managers it empowers its customers. How? Customers now come in anxious to try what’s being talked about online. This gives credibility to its employees and allows the customer to engage offline.

5. All the information is in one spot. Future employees or customers can search for Whole Foods and find all they need to know without having to extensively search. The research is done for you; all in one stop.

There are lots of lessons learned here for smaller businesses. Whole Foods has used social networking to engage with its customers and empower employees. TraffikWorks Media provides all the tools you need to put these techniques to work for you...and play with the big boys.

TraffikWorks

Skype's Big Social Media Play

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 20:38:00 GMT

Skype's Big Social Media Play

Deep integration is the future of social media. TraffikWorks Media is already there. When you add content to the interactive “wall” on one of the sites we’ve built, it’s automatically duplicated in your Facebook feed……for all your friends to see.

But we’re not the only ones thinking big….and thinking deep integration. Skype, the software application that allows users to make voice calls on the Internet, has just released a new version. It brings the Facebook experience inside Skype.

You can see your Facebook feed inside a prominently displayed tab in the Skype home area. And there’s more. Below each status update are two Skype buttons: SMS or call. The buttons appear if your friends have agreed to the display. If your friend is also on Skype, you can make a free call.

You can read more about all this in the Mashable article at http://mashable.com/2010/10/14/skype-5-with-facebook/

Jennifer Van Grove concludes: “Ultimately, these big changes point to Skype’s designs to be more than a secondary utility, and instead the primary connector between friends, family and social contacts.”

To which we’d add this: 32% of web browsing already occurs on smartphones like BlackBerries and iPhones. And that number will increase to 50% within five years. So businesses need to fish where the fish are. They need to reach consumers where they hang out: on social networks and smartphones.

Social networking is a lot more than just adding a Facebook button to your website without really integrating content and displaying it where it counts most. Real integration means ensuring content is seen in a variety of ways by a variety of people on a variety of platforms…instantly and automatically.

It’s a lesson both Skype and TraffikWorks Media have taken to heart.

TraffikWorks

Why Social Marketing is Part of SEO

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 21:12:00 GMT

Why Social Marketing is Part of SEO

Many people toss around the terms social marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) without really understanding what they mean, much less how social marketing is really a part of SEO.

Social marketing is a hardly a new technique. It existed long before websites and FaceBook. Part of social marketing is taking advantage of things like the bandwagon effect, the herd mentality and the power of suggestion. If influential and trusted people with many contacts promote ideas, they spread quickly. The Web twist is that search engines know how to value trust and take them into account in page ranking.

In a blog post well worth reading http://goo.gl/kthM B.J. Tolentino observes: “SEO is really a ‘marketing concept’ derived from social marketing. When you hear a term such as breaking or trending topics merge with an SEO terminology such as popular keywords (now of real-time relevance), this is ‘social marketing meets SEO’ in action. Who influences who? Is it social media influencing SEO, or the other way around? The line is certainly blurry.”

The TraffikWorks Media solution includes tools that automate many search engine optimization techniques, and offer you the opportunity to make further tweaks. More importantly, content added to your site is duplicated on Facebook and many other social networking sites. This further boosts your search engine ranking. So while we agree that the question of whether SEO influences social marketing or vice versa is intriguing, we don’t really think it makes much difference in the end. All that matters is that your message gets out there, and that large numbers of people see it.

A final thought. Google has recognized the growth and importance of quality web content by giving it added weight in its latest algorithim. Once again, TraffikWorks Media gives you the tools to ensure your site is constantly updated with quality content.

TraffikWorks

What Counts Most For FaceBook?

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 20:02:00 GMT

What Counts Most For FaceBook?

If you spend time on Facebook regularly, you probably wonder why some people keep showing up in your feed while others remain nearly invisible. And you’re not alone. But Facebook does little to explain the mystery. Like Google, it doesn’t say much about the algorithim it uses to decide who sees what.

That’s what makes the experiment conducted by The Daily Beast so fascinating. It got a new FaceBook user named Phil to interact with two dozens volunteers for several weeks, and carefully tracked how often the Phil’s updates appeared in the feeds of the volunteers.

Among the findings:

Links are powerful. Posting links to content elsewhere on the Web is much more effective than posting status updates. You may find think what you ate for lunch is fascinating, but Facebook doesn’t. So business owners should consider linking to articles in their field.

Photos and videos are even more powerful. They get past the Facebook filter easily.

Comments are super powerful. If even a few friends consistently comment on your posts, your visibility will be raised substantially.

The article is well worth reading in full at http://goo.gl/zjMY

Author Thomas E. Weber concludes: “For average users, cracking the Facebook code is something of a fun puzzle. But for marketers trying to tap Facebook—or individuals who see the service as a way to promote themselves—understanding how content propagates through the system is anything but a game.”

TraffikWorks Media offers tools that make it easy to add photos, videos, links and comments. When our system automatically duplicates the content on Facebook, your message will spread quickly.

TraffikWorks

Beware of Just Doing SEO

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 20:43:00 GMT

Beware of Just Doing SEO

By now, most small business owners have heard of social marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). They recognize they have to get on board, or risk being left behind competitors. But they are still unclear about how to proceed and who to hire.

Plenty of consultants charge big bucks to small business owners for SEO “tricks” that supposedly optimize their websites for search engines. The idea is to ensure sites are easily found. But sometimes small business owners’ web strategy doesn’t go much beyond hiring an SEO consultant to tweak a so-so site. That’s a mistake.

And social marketing really goes hand-in-hand with SEO. When it’s done right, social marketing will boost your search engine ranking. And there’s a lot more to social marketing than just starting a FaceBook or Twitter account. It’s best to speak in a unique voice that reaches out to customers and engages them in a dialog.

“Neither SEO nor social media marketing are impossible for a normal person to figure out, if you have the time,” concludes the online blog Effective Marketing Strategies. “But it’s important to remember that these two marketing arenas are specialties. Just like you might educate yourself on different types of oral bridges but you would hire a dentist to do the actual bridgework, you should consider hiring experts to help you grow your business through search engine optimization or social media marketing.” http://goo.gl/PuhP

Which is where TraffikWorks Media comes in. Our tools and strategy ensure that SEO and social marketing work hand-in-hand. You will be able to engage with your customers, then watch their comments be automatically duplicated on FaceBook and Twitter. Your message will spread quickly.

It’s really a new twist on an old concept: the power of personal referral. After all, the very best kind of advertising comes from the personal recommendations of friends.

TraffikWorks

Retailers and Small Businesses Embrace Social Media

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 09:37:00 GMT

Retailers and Small Businesses Embrace Social Media

A growing number of small businesses are embracing social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter in a big way.

Last year only one US small business in ten used social media for marketing. This year, the number has leaped to four in ten, according to an American Express Survey.

Diane Buckner, host of CBC’s Dragon’s Den, has noticed similar trends and “plenty of encouraging case studies” in Canada. She quotes a Toronto car dealer who used FaceBook to offer 10% off coupons on a service. The result was 140 appointments and $13,000 in sales.

The beauty of of social networking is that “it levels the playing field and provides small business owners another platform or medium to leverage from a marketing perspective,” said Scott Bradley, a social media strategist who runs the blog Networking Effectively. “Social media also fosters closer and better company-customer/prospective customer interaction – call it 'Word-of-Mouth 2.0' – than do the more traditional print advertising and PR.”

And a retailer who substantially boosted sales told Small Business Computing that to be successful in social media sites, “you want to resonate, not dominate. It’s not about beating your message into people over and over again. It’s about connecting with them on a more intimate, social level. The social media world is like a big small town. Good news travels fast, bad news travels ten times faster. So you need to be mindful and make sure you’re really providing something of value to your fans and followers.”

We think that’s smart advice. TraffikWorks Media offers tools to create something of value (coupons) and tools to spread the news (including our Content Management System.) We recognize that time is a big issue for many small business owners. That’s why our tools are easy to use. You can quickly update your site, add products and E-Commerce and begin a dialogue with your customers. More and more small business owners are realizing they can’t risk being left behind.

TraffikWorks

How Blogging Can Add Customers and Sales

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 12:22:00 GMT

How Blogging Can Add Customers and Sales

When small and medium-sized business owners plan their social marketing strategy, they should be sure to consider including blogging in the mix.

Blogs can be valuable promotional tools. The trick is to ensure that not each and and every item is a blatant plug. If you’re a business owner, it’s far better to establish yourself as a trusted expert in your field. Intersperse your promotional items with more neutral informational items.

You’ll build brand awareness and create more entry points to your content. The idea is to establish relationships with customers, potential customers and online influencers. You might call it “content marketing”….anything that is created and shared for the purpose of directly or indirectly promoting a business.

These days, anyone can publish notable content that is worthy of being shared. But it's best to go one step further by adding value to your target audience’s lives. For example, if you own a store that sells safety gates for babies, you might want to blog about the peace of mind that comes from childproofing your house, citing a specific customer example. That item may well get shared and discussed widely on “Mommy blogs”, complete with links back to your site. Your new online audience will also see the products you have for sale….and possibly a discount coupon you offer. And it’s all because you’ve established yourself as a trusted expert.

TraffikWorks Media includes a Content Management System that makes it easy to create blogs and share content. We can even offer strategic advice and copywriting services. Your competitors are beginning to harness the power of social media. Do you really want to be left behind?

TraffikWorks

A Small Business Thinks Big And Wins

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:49:00 GMT

A Small Business Thinks Big And Wins

Social media can level the playing field, allowing small local businesses to play in the big leagues – and win.

The success stories are piling up. Mitch Goldstone has owned a storefront 30-minute photo shop in Irvine, California since 1990. But these days, he’s running an international enterprise that scans photos for customers from around the world.

Mitch told the website www.todaysthv.com: “When I started, the customer base, it was around three to five miles. Today’s it’s worldwide. People find us through searches, through search engines, through Twitter searches as well as FaceBook.”

Mitch goes so far as to say:

“If you’re not into social media, social networking you will be out of business. I’m going to repeat that: you will be out of business if you don’t tweet, use Facebook and social media today.”

Like many smart business owners, Mitch has realized that he can’t just promote his business in his social media efforts. He also shares links and product reviews and engages in constant conversations about all things photo.

The article at http://goo.gl/5lKR concludes with advice from experts on what not to do.

“Don’t be boring, oversharing and bombarding your customers with useless posts. And don’t just promote yourself. Instead, become a resource for your customers – offering free tips and the occasional coupon.”

TraffikWorks Media offers all the tools and techniques you need to implement this very sensible advice. Among them:

· A Content Management System (CMS) that makes it easy to update blogs, articles and discussions

· Automatic duplication of website content in the FaceBook and Twitter feeds of your website members

· The ability to create online coupons in less than two minutes, complete with your logo and any terms and conditions you require

TraffikWorks

When Should You Post on Social Media Sites?

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 18:50:00 GMT

When Should You Post on Social Media Sites?

When it comes to using social media, don’t neglect a crucial component that is often overlooked: the time of day you choose to publish your material.

The social media management company Virtue anlaysed more than three years of data from 1,500 brands that post on FaceBook. Among the key findings:

The three biggest usage spikes tend to occur on weekdays at 11:00 a.m., 3:00 p.m., and 8:00 p.m. ET
The biggest spike occurs at 3:00 p.m. ET on weekdays
Weekday usage is pretty steady. But Wednesday at 3:00 pm ET is consistently the busiest period in terms of activity.
Fans are less active on Sunday compared to all other days of the week
Overall, morning posts performed best in terms of user enagagement, if not sheer numbers.

Adam Ostrow of Mashable http://goo.gl/QhGz observed: “65% of Facebook users only access the site when they’re not at work or school — typically early morning or evening. That means that if you’re making social media only a part of a 9 to 5 work day, you might be missing out on connecting with consumers during the times they’re likely to be online.

Mashable concludes that “knowing when users are engaging and interacting with your

page can be critical in getting the most effective message across.”

Business owners should take all this to heart. It makes sense to fish where the fish are.

The whole idea is to get your message out by engaging with customers and potential

customers on their terms.

TraffikWorks

How To Profit From Online Coupons

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:29:00 GMT

How To Profit From Online Coupons

Reaching prospects and customers on their own terms in new and creative ways is the essence of social marketing.

Social marketing allows you to engage with buyers, create interest and even close sales. One idea would be for business owners to include a coupon on the “Interactive Wall” of their TraffikWorks Media websites. The coupon takes less than two minutes to create in our easy-to-use Content Management System (CMS). You can even add your logo and any required terms and conditions.

The coupon will be duplicated on your company’s FaceBook Fan Page. The coupon will also appear in the Facebook and Twitter feeds of your online community members. So the friends of your online community members will see the coupon and link back to your site.

In the process, you grow your pool of prospects, customers, and online community members. And there is an additional benefit: the links and referrals from FaceBook and Twitter back to your site boost your search engine ranking. So your site is more easily found, attracting yet more traffic. The whole process is viral. More people find the site and join your community. Then, all their online friends and contacts start seeing your messages.

All this is light years beyond cold calling. Contacting thousands of prospects is time-consuming, expensive and beyond the capacity of many small business owners. A better approach might be harness the power of TraffikWorks Media social media tools to get the message out.

You can establish yourself as a trusted expert by posting tips and links to product reviews. Avoid just posting promotional items for your business. Include some more neutral, informational items as well. You will create content, value, and customers. That’s the real payoff.

TraffikWorks

Why The Soft Sell Pays Off For Tweets

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:29:00 GMT

Why The Soft Sell Pays Off For Tweets

Joel Comm, author of the book “Twitter Power 2.0: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time," offers the following advice.

Look through my timeline, and you’ll see lots of different kinds of tweets. You’ll see links to my blog posts. You’ll see replies to my followers. You’ll see my opinions on politics, gaming, and social media. You’ll even see the odd quote that I’ve thrown in for fun and to spark some comments.

What you won’t see are tweets that tell people they should be buying my products. That’s not what I use Twitter for. I prefer to use it to build a brand and a community. In time, that will bring me more loyal customers and more sales overall. I can already see it happening in the number of visitors to my blog and the type of comments those visitors leave. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use Twitter to drive direct sales.

You can, but you have to follow a number of simple rules:

• Don’t do it too often. A special offer once a week is plenty. More than that, and you’ll start to look like a commercial Twitter timeline rather than a personal one. That will reduce the number of your users.

• Make the offers really special. Time-limited offers and discount coupons make followers feel that they’re being rewarded for reading your tweets. Being part of an exclusive club is a powerful motivator to keep reading.

• Keep the offers targeted. People will follow you for all sorts of reasons. They might have seen your Twitter URL on your blog. They might have seen a reply to you in someone else’s timeline. Or they could have read one of your re-tweeted messages to name just three.

They’ll stick around because they find your tweets interesting and entertaining.

With a group of followers that could be quite varied, the temptation might be to make offers for any products you can think of. If someone offers you an interesting-looking joint venture, you might want to mention it on Twitter, offer a discount code, and see if anyone bites. You could do that, and some people might bite. However, if your keep your offers closely-targeted to your specialized subject—whatever that subject might be—you’ll continue to come across as an expert, and because your trust levels on that topic will be higher, your conversion rates should be higher, too.

• Don’t link to a sales page without a special offer. Although Twitterers understand that companies are using the site for branding and marketing, they don’t want to feel that they’re being pushed into buying. If the tweets are interesting and entertaining, then followers will be happy to read them.

TraffikWorks

More Than a Buzzword: What Is Social CRM?

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 18:45:00 GMT

More Than a Buzzword: What Is Social CRM?

The numbers tell the tale. When consumers decide which companies to do business with:

· 93% believe companies should have a social media presence

· 92% rely on the company’s reputation or brand

· 88% rely on the recommendations of family and friends

· 81% will go online to verify those recommendations

There are many more facts and figures in a blog post by Jacob Morgan in

Social Media Examiner at http://goo.gl/4OGUt But they all point in the same

direction: “Consumers are changing and evolving with the growth of social

media.”

Thanks to tools offered by TraffikWorks Media as par of its suite of

products and services, small- and medium-sized business owners are now

building their brands in ways that were previously available to large companies

with big budgets.

The latest buzz is about something called “Social CRM.” Now, you may have

heard of conventional CRM (Customer Relationship Management.) It usually

revolves around managing data to move customers through a pipeline “with the

goal of keeping the customer coming back to buy more and more stuff.”

Social CRM takes this one giant step further. It has been defined as

a strategy based on customer engagement and interactions that solves

business challenges. It’s a component of collaborative relationships between

businesses and consumers. The idea is empower customers with the goal of

having them become advocates.

After all, word-of-mouth referrals are the most valuable kind. We often see

movies or buy products based on friends’ recommendations. These days, those

recommendations are popping up in FaceBook and Twitter feeds, in mobile

broswers on smartphones and on interactive web 2.0 websites.

TraffikWorks Media ties all these trends together. When content appears on

one of our clients’ websites, it is automatically reproduced in multiple places

on FaceBook and Twitter. Your marketing message will spread quickly. And it

will have added force and value – because friends are recommending your

business to friends.

TraffikWorks

Act Quickly To Beat Big Companies

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:47:00 GMT

Act Quickly To Beat Big Companies

There’s been a lot of talk about how social media levels the playing field, allowing small businesses to compete effectively with much larger rivals.

But maybe that view doesn’t go far enough. When it comes to social media, could small businesses actually have an advantage over large corporations?

That’s the intriguing possibility that springs to mind after digesting a massive report from Gartner, the internationally respected IT consulting firm.

The report notes an irony. Many senior IT leaders make extensive use of social networks and social media for personal use, but sometimes have less success in getting their organizations to fully embrace the new ways of doing business social media makes possible. The report says:

“Social media is ushering in a new era of transparency and allowing formerly hidden social structures to emerge. Social networks have the potential to deliver a new category of information based on social interactions. This information can be used to inform operational processes, facilitate engagement with employees, customers, business partners and the social Web, as well as create innovative business opportunities.”

But big companies can be slow to act. They lack the suppleness of small businesses. They can get bogged down in turf battles about who should manage social media strategies and whether to adopt a centralized or de-centralized approach. Meantime, the pace of change accelerates. And nimble competitors could end up as the big winners.

TraffikWorks Media can help. Our industry-leading suite of tools includes Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Content Management (CMS), and a deep level of integration with FaceBook and Twitter that spreads your marketing messages at viral speed. Beyond that, we offer a social media quick start guide that includes a worksheet and tips on what to do when to grow your online community and increase sales.

You’ll be up and running in no time, using techniques previously available only to large companies with big budgets. And you just might be able to beat the big boys at their own game -- because you can act quickly and decisively.

TraffikWorks

Small Business Has Big Social Media Plans

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:45:00 GMT

Small Business Has Big Social Media Plans

Small and medium-sized business are embracing social media in a big way, according to a recent survey by Zommerang and GrowBiz Media.

"It is remarkable to see the new ways that small and midsized

businesses are adapting different technologies to make the most

effective and creative use of their budgets," said Alex Terry,

General Manager of Zoomerang. "More small to midsized

companies are incorporating social media practices into their

business development strategies. As a result, this area of marketing

is poised to see an incredible uptick in the next year."

We've written before that small amd medium-sized businesses may actually have a strategic advantage over their larger competitors because they can embrace change quickly. And they have now leaped on board the social media juggernaut. Smart business owners don’t want to risk being left behind.

More than a third of the 750 small and medium-sized businesses surveyed already use social media and 50% use customer referral rewards.

As the numbers skyrocket in the next few months, The TraffikWorks Media suite of tools and services embraces both strategies. We offer easily-created online coupons and tickets, along with a deep level of integration with FaceBook and Twitter. Content that appears on the “Interactive Wall” of your website is automatically duplicated on your company’s FaceBook and Twitter pages and on all the social media feeds of your community members.

It’s really a new twist on an old idea: the power of personal referral. Have you ever seen a movie or made a purchase on the recommendation of a personal friend? If so, you’ve understood the essence of the TraffikWorks Media value proposition.

We make it easy to harness the power of personal referral.

TraffikWorks

How A Little Time Goes A Long Way

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:19:00 GMT

How A Little Time Goes A Long Way

More and more small businesses now embrace the value of social media in building their brands and increasing sales. Over a third already use social media and market researchers are predicting a huge increase in the next few months. Smart business owners realize they can’t risk being left behind more agile competitors. So they’re rushing to get on board the social media juggernaut.

But not everyone is joining the revolution. Some business owners are still reluctant to participate in this fundamental change to the business landscape. An oft-heard objection boils down to one word: time.

Let’s face it. Most small business owners very work long hours every day. There is never enough time to do everything that needs to be done. So who has time to mess around with website updates and Facebook feeds on top of everything else?

The short answer is that you can’t afford not to take the time. But it may be far less time than you imagined.

TraffikWorks Media offers tools that make it a snap to update your site yourself and even create online coupons. What exactly is content? It could be just about anything: a link to a product review or blog post, a photo one of your online community members contributes, or a video from YouTube. All you have to do is include the link and add a few words of your own.

Don’t worry about being a “polished” professional writer. Authenticity is much more important. It’s not hard to establish yourself as a trusted expert if you publish useful information. And you don’t even have to write much!

Here’s just one tip from the TraffikWorks Social Media Guide, now in production. You can easily set up a search at www.google.com/alerts using a keyword from your industry. Then you can “harvest” the links to provide valuable information to your customers and prospects.

Once posted on the “Interactive Wall” of your website, the content will be duplicated in your company’s Facebook and Twitter feeds, from which a whole new audience can link back to your website.

Creating content is neither complicated nor difficult nor especially time-consuming. Perhaps an employee (or even one of your kids!) can handle the task.

Bottom line: the benefits are large. And the time required is probably much less than you thought.

TraffikWorks

SkyDiving, Social Media and Antonio

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:57:00 GMT

SkyDiving, Social Media and Antonio

What do a skydiving event organizer and 43% of Facebook users have in common? Quite a lot. Both are big believers in the power of social media to catapult businesses to the next level.

First, those FaceBook users.

An astonishing 43% of Facebook users say they “Like,” or are fans of at least one brand. Why is the number so high?

The two top reasons are displaying brand affiliation to friends and getting discounts. Forty percent of Facebook fans said they like the discounts and another 39% said they liked the “social badges” they can display to show their brand affinity.

Other findings from the report by ExactTarget and CoTweet:
·        34% of Facebook users said they “Like” brands to stay informed on company activities
·        33% “Like” brands to get product updates
·        30% “Like” brands to get information on upcoming sales

“By engaging consumers on FaceBook in a way that keeps them entertained, brands have an opportunity to mobilize Fans and get introduced to their friends,” says Jeff Rohrs of ExactTarget.

And we think that’s exactly right. The TraffikWorks Media suite of tools makes it easy to reach the friends of your online community members. Everything posted to the interactive “Wall” on your site also appears automatically on your company’s Facebook and Twitter pages – and on the Facebook and Twitter pages of the members of your online community. We turbocharge the viral effect with tools and techniques no one else can match.

And we have have true believer in our midst. He’s that skdiving event organizer, Antonio Homde Parente, whose day job is directing sales and marketing here at TraffikWorks Media.

Antonio has 731 Facebook Fans on his Tainted Entertainment Worldwide
site at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5151238590
He gets a lot of buzz and business from his posts on FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites.

And so can you. Just ask Antonio how. Email antonio@traffikworks.com

TraffikWorks

Top 8 Social Media Tips For Small Business

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:15:00 GMT

Top 8 Social Media Tips For Small Business

Congratulations. You’ve taken the plunge and your small business is now the proud owner of a TraffikWorks Media Web 2.0 site that is deeply integrated with Facebook and Twitter.

What now? With a powerful set of tools and techniques at your disposal, what should your first steps be? Here’s a sneak peek at some suggestions from the forthcoming TraffikWorks Social Media Guide.

1. Ensure you have a strong call to action. The call to action should appear not only on your home page, but on every page of your website. A “call to action” is a way to get visitors to join your online community. Some of the top calls to action are Buy Now, Discover, Register and Immediate Download.

2. Convert online visitors to buyers. Once people have raised their hands to join your community, you can move them to ever-increasing levels of engagement and affinity. Visitors become buyers.

3. Ensure you have a Facebook Fan Page and company Twitter Page. To take full advantage of the viral marketing potential of our solution, ensure that your company has a Facebook Fan Page and Twitter feed. The content of your Website’s interactive “Wall” will be duplicated on FaceBook and Twitter.

4. Offer coupons and discounts. You could offer a discount coupon on your website that will be seen in the Facebook newsfeed of your online community members. Facebook “friends” of your community member will see the coupon offer and be directed back to your site to join your community and download the coupon. And the process repeats itself as your new community members’ friends also see the offer.

5. Avoid too many product and sales plugs. When posting to your Wall, Facebook, and Twitter, avoid just posting one promotional item after another for your business. Include some more neutral, informational items as well. You will increase your credibility as a trusted source of valuable information.

6. Take advantage of current customer lists. Make sure that you make the best possible use of a key resource: any existing customer list that includes email names. Begin by emailing these customers to invite them to join your new online community. Offer a coupon or special as an inducement. You may also upload your list to our website, or ask us to do so.

7. Set up two Google Alerts at www.google.com/alerts to monitor online mentions of your business and your industry. Both alerts will be delivered to your email box at intervals you choose. Use the business alert to track online mentions of your business. Use the industry alert to get content ideas for use on your Interactive wall, blog or newsletter. You need not write much content yourself. Just link to articles or posts your alert delivers, perhaps adding a few words of your own. You will create value for your customers and become a trusted source that translates into increased loyalty and sales.

8. Join Forums and groups in your industry. Post links back to your website to grow your online community.

TraffikWorks

Facebook and the Future of Email

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 01:06:00 GMT

Facebook and the Future of Email

Here's how the folks at www.mashable.com reported Facebook's new “modern messaging system.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says more than four billion messages are currently sent through Facebook each day. He also shared that Facebook believes that modern messaging is seamless, informal, immediate, personal, simple and minimal. “It’s not e-mail,” he said.

Interestingly enough, Facebook is handing out facebook.com e-mail addresses to all users. The system, however, is really modeled after chat according to Andrew Bosworth. “People should share however they want to share,” he says.

The new messaging system is composed of three parts: seamless messaging, cross-platform conversation history and the social inbox. The latter is an inbox for filtering the messages you want, organized by the people you care about. It’s designed to highlight conversations with your real friends and be spam free.

According to the Facebook blog post, “Messages is not email. There are no subject lines, no cc, no bcc, and you can send a message by hitting the Enter key.”

The messaging system is also designed to be platform-agnostic, so users can send and receive messages via mobile, IM or Facebook. It’s designed to make it simpler for users to communicate in real-time with their real friends, wherever they are. The system will be rolled out slowly over the next few months in an invite-only process, Zuckerberg says.

Zuckerberg also discussed about how people use messaging systems today. Zuckerberg recounted conversations with high schoolers where youngsters told him e-mail is too slow and that they prefer SMS and Facebook to sending e-mails. These conversations helped prompt Facebook’s decision to create a new messaging experience.

As soon as the event was announced last week, speculation ran rampant that Facebook would be overhauling its messaging system and releasing its own e-mail service to compete with the likes of Gmail. E-mail, however, seems to be secondary to Facebook’s primary desire to be the communication platform for tomorrow’s youth.

TraffikWorks

No to PR, Yes to Social Media

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:59:00 GMT

No to PR, Yes to Social Media

Small businesses should forget about hiring expensive PR agencies and just use social media instead. It’s less expensive and more effective, advises Shirley Chan of E-Commerce Faststart.

Chan told WebProNews:

"Small business owners can really take control...[of] all their messaging and their branding, and really just engage their customers in a conversation, without having to hire expensive PR agencies," she says. "I think one of the advantages of being able to be on Facebook and Twitter is you can really actually have this conversation, and cut out the reports and the agencies..."

"You can actually be in the trenches, and be doing real, live, realtime surveys," she points out. "People say, 'do online surveys.' Well you can actually be doing realtime online surveys with your customers, like right now, which is pretty amazing. It cuts the cost down. You can do it yourself or have some people in your company do it."

Chan also says too many business owners get too caught up in immediate monetization and ROI on their social media initiatives.

"I would use social media as a way of doing research - finding out what my customers are talking about - what products do they think are hot in the marketplace, and do I have that? And how can I leverage that hot trend, and make sure that I have it so my customers are speaking...about that product on my site and to their friends, enlisting them to be my soldiers out there, and be my sales force out there on our behalf. I think that's something that's something that small business owners can do and should do."

Read the whole article at http://goo.gl/UAv61

We couldn’t agree more. The TraffikWorks Media suite of tools and services does indeed make it easy to enlist “sales soldiers” from your current customers. Anything posted on the interactive “Wall” of your site also appears on your FaceBook Fan Page, the Facebook status updates of your “fans” (where their friends can see it), your company Twitter timeline and the Twitter timelines of your followers.

So your message will spread quickly. It’s really a new take on an old idea: the power of referral sales. If you’ve ever attended a movie because a friend recommended it, you’ve understood the essence of what TraffikWorks Media does.

TraffikWorks

Why The Auto Dealer Was Wrong

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 23:48:00 GMT

Why The Auto Dealer Was Wrong

These days, it’s not often that you still hear skepticism about the value of social media. That’s why we were taken aback when an auto dealer posted on a Wall Street Journal blog that he had tried social media but it hadn’t worked for him.

But all’s well that ends well.

A representative of an email marketing firm was quick to reply to “strongly encourage” him to try social media again, but with these points in mind:

“There’s no question that social media is the channel for driving world of mouth in the digital age, but it is not a marketing cure-all. It needs to be a complement to your existing marketing and advertising mix (e.g., social media works great in conjunction with email marketing.”)

“Social media is all about relationship building, so it takes some time and consistency to generate great results. That said, there are a lot of great tools out there today that make it easier for small businesses to leverage social media.”

We agree – and can’t resist pointing out that the TraffikWorks Media suite of tools are just what the doctor ordered. We offer both email marketing and social marketing from a single web interface as part of a total solution.

The key is your interactive “Wall.” You can create content on the Wall, and so can members of your online community. Content that appears on your Wall can be automatically duplicated on your company’s Twitter Page and Facebook Fan Page.

There’s more. The content will also appear in the Facebook newsfeeds and Twitter timelines of your online community members. So the friends of your online community members will see the content and link back to your site.

In the process, you grow your pool of prospects, customers, and online community members. And there is an additional benefit: the links and referrals from Facebook and Twitter back to your site boost your search engine ranking.

So your site is more easily found, attracting still more traffic. The whole process is viral. More and more people find the site and join your community. Visitors become buyers, then refer friends to your business.

TraffikWorks

Is There Such a Thing as Personal ROI?

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:48:00 GMT

Is There Such a Thing as Personal ROI?

One of the great things about social media is how the personal and the professional come together.

Here’s what communications strategist Amber Naslund has to say about it in Social Media Today at http://goo.gl/7VFft

“I will and do support the idea that quantifying social media’s impact is important to justify continued investment as a business. But I can’t believe nor understand how many companies can’t also accept the fact that deeper and broader personal connections can net stronger business ties, too, whether or not you can capture the data proof points that bear that out. It’s been that way since the dawn of time. “

“We prosper in business through better connections, stronger relationships, deeper trust.’’

“We’ve always known that. We’ve rarely demanded to see the evidence until we got all up in arms about the fact that we were talking on this internet thing instead of over the golf course or a drink.”

“But I’ve found all of these things in spades through Twitter, my blog, the blogs of others, Facebook. I’ve found them in you, friends and readers and those that have provided so much information and insight for me to learn from. I’ve made business deals, yes. Numbers of them. But I’ve also exponentially enriched my life through the people I’ve met, the ideas I’ve discovered, the learning I’ve done.”

Closer to home, TraffikWorks Media Director of Sales and Marketing Antonio Parente is a firm believer in connecting business and professional relationships. Antonio has many business and professional presences on the Web. One of them makes his approach clear in its name: Traffik Jam - Social Media Integration at http://goo.gl/qXg6g

Parente also has a Twitter account for an entertainment company he runs at http://twitter.com/rutainted and says he has closed many sales based on relationships that began online.

"Prospects see my level of enagement online and see how effective social media technqiues can be in increasing sales. By the time they meet me in person, they feel they already know me. That's a great way to begin a business relationship."

TraffikWorks

Building Relationships is the Real Pay Off

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:10:00 GMT

Building Relationships is the Real Pay Off

Since social media is mostly about relationships, it’s wrong to try to measure success on such short-term measures as how many sales can be attributed to a single Tweet or Wall post.

It’s wiser to take a longer view. As a business owner, you’re really investing in the customer experience. So amortize the costs over time. After all, customer experience should be part of any marketing program.

But too many social marketing pundits are trying to measure the wrong things. They mistake random metrics like Four Square “check-ins” for success, mistaking relationship-building tools for a direct response vehicle.

The real social media payoff is enlisting your customers as “sales soldiers”who spread the word to their own network of friends and contacts. And all that begins with a great online customer experience that leads to ever-increasing levels of affinity with your business.

A blogger recently made these points – with which we heartily agree. He wrote that “measuring the long-term impact is what you need to look at” because trying to measure short term impact will get “a lot of noise, false signals and opinions.”

But he went on express doubt that “tool vendors would catch up” with his idea.

Here’s where we disagree. While TraffikWorks Media is much more than a tools vendor, our solutions are ready to go today.

Among them are enhanced analytics and Search Engine Optimization technology. Equally important is the way we deeply integrate Facebook and Twitter with the websites we build for clients. But the added value is the strategic advice and training we provide on how to best use our tools to grow your online community.

That’s how you develop the brand evangelists your business needs for growth.

TraffikWorks

Our Crystal Ball: Profiting From 2011 Predictions

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 19:42:00 GMT

Our Crystal Ball: Profiting From 2011 Predictions

2011 look good for social media in general and TraffikWorks Media in particular.

We’ve written before about the blurring of lines between social media and search engine optimization. To put it in a nutshell: post early and post often. Google already includes tweets and blog posts in its search rankings. And social media experts predict Google will attach even greater importance to social media use in the coming year.

That’s good news for the owners of websites TraffikWorks has built. Our tools make it easy for you or members of your online community to post content that is duplicated automatically on Facebook and Twitter, where it will be widely seen. The links back to your site boost search engine rankings and grow your online community.

There is also informed speculation that Google will place increased weight on testimonials posted to websites in 2011. And that’s another thing the TraffikWorks Media Interactive “Wall” makes easy.

Another big trend is the growth of mobile browsing, which already accounts for 32% of total browsing. By next year, it’s predicted that 15% of all Web seaches will be done through a mobile device. So Google is now giving more clout to pages like those on TraffikWorks websites that are optimized for mobile browsing.

Other 2011 predictions:
More and more companies will recognize the business value of employees accessing sites like Facebook and Twitter from work
More and more large companies will get more social, with the addition of badges and buttons. But small companies like those who use TraffikWorks sites may have an edge due to their more rapid decision-making
What’s been called “influencer marketing” will become more important. As traditional marketing declines, people will increasingly rely of personal referrals

But our favorite prediction has to be this one:

“Smaller vendors with specialzied expertise will continue to thrive.’’

Forgive us while we blush, but we couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

TraffikWorks

Why Just Being Yourself is So Important

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:53:00 GMT

Why Just Being Yourself is So Important

Be yourself.

That’s the advice the best talent coaches give to performers. And one fitness organization advises prospective trainers to “be the big you.”

The same logic applies to the “voice” you should adopt when writing social media posts, however brief. Authenticity and transparency are key.

Once you’re up and running, what exactly should you post? An article at http://goo.gl/ghVnt in The Social Media Examiner offers this advice:

“Post valuable, useful content that demonstrates your expertise, and encourage your audience to spread your message.

Encourage interaction with your market. Instigate conversations. The more participation and involvement you can generate from your audience, the better.

Pre-sell. NOT sell. Many business blogs make the mistake of posting exclusively about their sales, promotions and discounts.

Exude your brand.

Give a taste of what it’s like to work with you: fun, enthusiastic easy, etc…)”

After all, the whole idea is to:

Attract traffic
Convert visitors into leads on autopilot by getting them into your sales funnel
Establish you as a trustworthy thought leader in your niche
Convert leads into loyal, raving fans
Help spread your message and generate buzz by digital word-of-mouth marketing

TraffikWorks