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Tools To Help You Manage All That Overwhelming Social Media!

February 2, 2012 / Search Engine Optimization The Woodlands / No comments

Thanks for being a loyal visitor. Check back often for information on SEO!

Managing all your social media platforms is sometimes overwhelming. With a little help from web-based tools, this can be manageable and time-saving. See below for some of the tools available for managing your social media platforms. This is in no way a comprehensive list….it just give you an idea of what’s out there.

Ping.fm: Ping.fm is a simple and FREE service that makes updating your social networks a snap! It allows you to simultaneously update accounts like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Flickr through their web interface, text message, email or instant message.

HootSuite: According to them, they are the leading social media dashboard to manage and measure your social networks. This is a tool that allows you to manage multiple social media channels through one dashboard. If you have a company with more than one contributor to your social media program, HootSuite is a good solution.

TweetDeck: TweetDeck is an app that brings more flexibility and insight to power users. Like HootSuite, TweetDeck provides a way to track many of your social media channels on one dashboard. It can be a time-saver and a productivity- enhancer, assuming you’re not easily distracted.

Cotweet: Cotweethelps companies of all sizes engage customers, manage conversations, and report results across leading social networks like Twitter and Facebook. CoTweet is perfect for companies who have multiple people contributing to their social media campaigns. In addition to organizing and monitoring your Twitter and Facebook pages, it allows you to assign updates and social streams to members of your team based either on their expertise or who working at the time.

Seesmic: Seesmic connects you wherever you are. Keep up with all of your personal and professional networks, anywhere, anytime. Manage your Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Ping.fm, and Foursquare accounts all from one simple interface. Whether you want to access your social networks from the web, a desktop application, or your mobile phone, Seesmic has a solution.

NutshellMail: Manage your Facebook Pages. Keep track of Likes, Posts, Comments, and Insights. Manage your personal Facebook profile too, with all your Facebook Birthdays, Photos, Friend Requests, Wall Posts, News Feed, Event & Group Invites, and Messages in one interactive email. This is by Constant Contact.

Sprout Social: Sprout Social will deliver relevant messages from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs & Articles, competitor insights, check-ins and more directly to your dashboard. Another organizing tool, Sprout Social manages multiple social networks from one dashboard, allowing you to optimize your outreach in each channel, identify people interested in your brand and convert them to loyal consumers.

PostRank: Tap into the intelligence of millions of online users active on the Social Web. PostRank delivers objective, real-time data and analysis on any topic, trend, or interest relevant to you or your business. Learn how you can use PostRank. PostRank, recently acquired by Google, has a dashboard that aggregates what is happening with all of your content across the web in a constantly updated feed. This way you can see what type of engagement your content is getting across different channels right as it happens.

If you don’t have time to manage your social media, even with these cool tools, JaxWorks SEO & Web can do it for you! See below and contact us for more info. These plans enhance and are part of the custom Facebook fan page we build for you, which start at $70.

Maintenance refers to changes you would like to make to the fan page
Posting services refers to us doing more than one generic post a week. It is a custom proposal that may include multiple post a week on FB and daily Tweets. This also could include other social media platforms like LinkedIn or Foursquare
Social Media Advisor is available to assist and answer questions about the social media platform we built for you
Monthly Tips are general monthly social media tips.

Market Your Business with Social Media

December 7, 2010 / Search Engine Optimization The Woodlands / 6 comments

Social media marketing has emerged as one of the most popular ways to market a business. Sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Digg and thousands of blogs and podcasts have made it possible to connect with your customers on a one-on-one basis. Before jumping on the bandwagon, make sure you consider these social media marketing pros and cons.

Here are the pros of social media marketing, the cons will come tomorrow!

You can reach customers that traditional marketing misses. You never know who will direct a friend to your blog, Facebook page, or Twitter page, so your potential for reeling in new leads is unlimited.

Not only can you use social media to build your brand, you can use it to demonstrate your personality, interact with customers and show them that you care, which, in turn, breeds loyalty. Social media marketing can also boost your reputation and build relationships.

You can learn how to improve your products and services. By encouraging open communication through public comments, you can learn what you can do to make your products and pitch more palatable.

You can learn more about your target audience, not only by their comments but also by studying visitor analytics. This information can prove invaluable when planning other marketing campaigns such as direct-mail postcards.

Social media marketing is cost-efficient in comparison with other marketing methods, even if you hire a someone for your social media content needs.

There are lots of pros to marketing your business using social media. Tomorrow I’ll tell you the cons and you can decide if social media marketing is right for your business.

In the meantime, “share” me with your friends using the social media buttons below!

Category: FaceBook Fan Pages, FaceBook Marketing, Social Media The Woodlands, Twitter The Woodlands /

Final Day of Twitter!

November 2, 2010 / Search Engine Optimization The Woodlands / One comment

The great thing about Twitter is that you can tweet from your mobile device and most people do. Twitter has seen an extreme amount of growth in the last year and more and more Twitter users are finding new ways to stay connected to Twitter 24/7. This means using our mobile devices to engage and participate on Twitter. Access via our mobile devices enables us to engage with others, even while we are out and about. All you need is your mobile phone and an application that allows you to tweet.

There are some individuals who prefer to tweet via SMS or using the mobile Twitter site and both of these are great mobile tweeting options, however others especially those new to Twitter prefer applications that are installed on their mobile devices.

There are many applications available, but today I’m going to focus on the most popular for the iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Palm.

iPhone

Twitterific – One of the most popular Twitter applications for the iPhone.
TwitterFon – A personal favorite of many because of it’s simplifed navigation that allow a user to jump from on area to another.

Blackberry

UberTwitter – Gaining in popularity, but many complain of the drain it has on the battery.
Twitterberry – Most popular application for Blackberry users.

Android

Twidroid – Most popular full-featured Twitter application for the Android phone.

There is also Twidroid, Seemsic, Hootsuite, and a lot of people are using Tweetcaster (the little birdie is so cute!)

Choose your weapon (and your phone) for mobile tweeting. I hope you liked my 10 Days of Twitter and can use all this information to begin connecting with people using Twitter.

Connect with me on Twitter and Happy Tweeting!

Category: Social Media The Woodlands, Twitter The Woodlands, Uncategorized /

Twitter Day 8 by JaxWorks SEO & Web

October 6, 2010 / Search Engine Optimization The Woodlands / 11 comments

It’s true business transactions are transpiring in the Twitterverse. Individuals and businesses are connecting every day on Twitter. The sale of a product or the scheduling of a service is not uncommon across the daily Twitterers. There are even companies finding that perfect job candidate on Twitter. Talk about amazing!

People are more and more using Twitter for business transactions, the sale of products, scheduling services, and finding candidates for jobs. Are you participating in Twitter for these opportunities? Nielsen reported that in a 12 month period from February 2008 to 2009 Twitter grew their unique visitors by 1,382%. This brought their user base to 7 million, so let’s put this in perspective. There are 7 million people out there that you could be prospecting to. Interested? I knew you would be, so how do you start finding those prospects that have an interest in your products or services?

First of all, don’t offend and lose prospects.

1. Be willing to give other people information and knowledge in your area of expertise. Provide information that they can use while maintaining your personality and unique persona. Just don’t give them fluff: put meaningful information out there that they can really use. Solve problems, answer questions…you get the idea!

2. Don’t spend all your time promoting your products or services. That is annoying and unattractive to followers. At best they will ignore you, at worst they will “unfollow” you.

3. Once you say something, it’s out there for everyone to see, so be sure you use common sense when tweeting. You don’t want to say anything derogatory or inappropriate about anyone. This also turns people off and they will not consider buying your products or services.

4. Don’t repeat the same message over and over again. Give your followers new and informative information…don’t spam them!

5. All social media is about interaction, not about plugging your business or self promotion. Interact and form a relationship with our friends, customer, colleagues, and prospects. Treat them like you would treat a friend!

So, now that we know how to act, how do we find prospects?

The most valuable tool that you can use to find prospects on Twitter is the Twitter search tool. Search for terms and keywords that represent your customers. By doing this, you will have a starting point that will represent a list of individuals that may have an interest in your products or services. Start following them! You’ll be surprised at what you will learn that will help you in targeting your selected market for your products and services. You will also find that many times the follow will be reciprocated and they will start following you.
Share information with your fellow industry workers, not just your potential clients. They like to hear different takes on the industry and what you are doing in it.
Find people in your industry that are moving and shaking and follow them. You may learn something!
Create a Twitter profile that draws the interest of your prospective market. Make it informative and interesting, so that it draws in your potential customers and makes them want to follow you.
Finally, pick a Twitter name that represents you or your business. Make sure the profile and the Twitter name accurately represents your business.

That’s it…now get out there and Tweet!

Twitter Search

Category: Search Engine Optimization The Woodlands, Social Media The Woodlands, Twitter The Woodlands /

Twitter Day 7! Social Media Marketing by JaxWorks.

September 19, 2010 / Search Engine Optimization The Woodlands / 11 comments

I’ve taken so long to get all these Twitter posts out and I apologize but let’s look at how to use social media in your marketing strategy. There are so many companies, and when I say companies, I mean both the large companies as well as the soloprenuer out there that are beginning to think social media marketing is about getting rich quick, or it’s the quick fix to small marketing budgets that will pull them through the recession with little or no effort.

To tell the truth, social media is about interaction, not hustling clients! When you interact, you create relationships; when you create these relationships, you create opportunities to share your products and services. This doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, consistency, and a genuine interest in the creation and nurturing of those relationships. If you aren’t willing to do that, then hire a consultant that will do it for you!

No matter what industry you are in, do it badly and you will destroy your reputation within the social media realm. You can save your reputation by minding your manners.

Social Media Marketing No-Nos

It’s not all about you and your business, so interact with others. Get to know others; don’t just try to sell and promote your products. It won’t work.

Spamming is not ok, ever. It’s true that spamming is becoming a problem in the social media networks, and we are being required to weed through it, just like we do in our email inboxes. Don’t spam followers; if they didn’t ask for it, don’t send it. It’s that simple! Permission marketing is key.

Inconsistency will lead to failure. You must be consistent when it comes to using social media. Participating once a month or once a week just won’t get the results you desire.

Want followers? You will have to be a follower. Just like you can’t open a storefront and think that customers will just show up, you cannot sign up and start off in social media thinking everyone is just going to come and follow you. You must be a follower. Social marketing isn’t about flying solo, participate.

It’s important to realize that social media marketing does work, but as with any marketing strategy, but you must find the right social media marketing vehicles that will work for you and your industry, as well as design the campaigns that will present you with the results that you desire. If you’re B2C, FaceBook is a great option. If you’re B2B, you may rather spend more time on Linked In. There are a lot of different things you can do to market and you have to find the right fit! Social media marketing is a low to no-cost marketing option, but you will need to invest your time. If you are not willing to do that, consider selecting another marketing option or have a company do your social media marketing. They can then create and implement your social media marketing strategy. If you decide to outsource, just be sure to select a company or a consultant that has an idea of what they are doing

Good luck in your endeavors and I’ll attempt to get these blog posts out more often. Thanks for reading and if you liked this post, please see below and share it with your friends!

Category: Social Media The Woodlands, Twitter The Woodlands / Tags: social media marketing the woodlands

10 Days of Twitter Day 6!

August 8, 2010 / Search Engine Optimization The Woodlands / 43 comments

Ever heard of Twitter hashtags? A hashtag is used to unite specific tweets about particular topics. It’s a way of organizing or grouping tweets together.

What does a hashtag look like?
It’s the tweets you see that contain the “#” symbol plus a topic or word.

An example that comes to mind is this evening, while watching Fox News, many people gathered together and united their post by including the hashtag #foxandfriends. This enabled the hashtags to be searched and allowed Twitter users to follow the conversation of others on Twitter regarding the popular news show. The same was true during the last presidential election.

Twitter Day 6!!

Twitter Hashtag Resources
If you are interested in what topics are being talked about on Twitter, there are a few resources you can visit to gauge trending topics that are being discussed. These sites include:

Hashtags.org is an extremely valuable resource when it comes to researching popular trends on Twitter. It provides you with information on how many messages were sent regarding a specific hashtag and within what time frame.

Twemes
Twemes is another popular site, because it provides you with information on what themes are floating across the Twitter cyberwaves. I’ve also found the RSS Feed feature to be extremely helpful when I want to follow a specific hashtag.

Wthashtag
Trying to find information on the history of a hashtag? Would you like more information about a particular hashtag on Twitter? Wthashtag is the place to go. It is a wiki tool that is generated by users that explains what a hashtag means, how you can use it, when it was first discovered, and a live stream of that hashtag. This is a great resource if you are doing research into specific hashtags.

Why Use Hashtags?
Hashtags can be useful when you want to create as well as monitor visibility on Twitter. This can be extremely beneficial when monitoring your company or your products. They can be used to categorize your Tweets according to topic or purpose.

Simply put, hashtags are a great way to organize Tweets and allow others to follow specific topics or events. Once you learn how to use them, you will wonder how you ever Tweeted without them.

Category: Blogging, Social Media The Woodlands, Twitter The Woodlands /

10 Days of Twitter – Day 2!

March 29, 2010 / Search Engine Optimization The Woodlands / 18 comments

It only takes a few minutes to create your Twitter account so let’s get started! The most common question is often: “Do I name my Twitter account under my brand or my personal name?” This is something you need to think about before you begin, but I do discourage you from having more than one Twitter account to manage. This can get complicated and often difficult to keep going in a meaningful way. Only create Twitter accounts that you will have the time to manage, which means actively engaging in. The last thing you want is for someone to find a Twitter account either under your name or brand that is not active.

Follow JaxWorks!

Here are the steps to start tweeting!

Go to the Twitter homepage , click on the button that says “Sign Up Now.”

Complete the sign-up information providing your full name, username (which is what you will be known as) your password and email account. I strongly recommend you stay away from cute names, things that are hard to spell or just plain silly. My advice is always that people use their real names, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Shorter is always better, so don’t get hung up trying to use up all the spaces you are allocated.
Click on the button that says “Create My Account.”
You can import your email addresses from your Gmail, Yahoo or Outlook email accounts. This is a great way to get started in following current contacts.
Almost Done!! You need to sign into your account and complete your profile. Go to twitter.com and click the button that says “sign-in.” You will be taken to your Twitter homepage. At the top click the text that says “settings.” This is where you can tell people more about who you are, what companies you represent, and add your url or other link that is appropriate for you. You will also be given options to geotag your tweets, which basically tells others where you are “tweeting” from. Whether or not you choose to do this is totally up to you. There is also an option to protect your tweets – I highly suggest that you don’t use this feature, especially if you will be using Twitter to promote your company and your brand.
Add your picture. At the top of the settings page, you will see a “photo” tab. Click this and add a photo of you. I suggest using a personal picture of yourself, not a photo of your logo or an icon. Individuals want to see who they are tweeting with. A close up picture is better, so that people can see your face. Avoid using pictures of you and your wife, your cat, your toddler or other “cute” or “group” shots. The best photo to use as an avatar is always just you. You can also have someone create a custom Twitter background. JaxWorks will create these for you or you can create your own Twitter background.
That’s it – you are done, now start finding others to follow. A great source to use to find others to follow is MrTweet.
Try to spend a few minutes a day engaging on Twitter – you can split this into two intervals in the morning and the evening if that works best for you.

Category: Social Media The Woodlands, Twitter The Woodlands /

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