Despite the recent influx of self-styled social media ‘experts,’ very few people can predict the future of online connections, social communities, or marketing platforms. While the latest developments in the open web have attracted thousands of gurus and consultants, each more likely than the other to pitch their abilities, it seems that the vast majority of social media users are diving into the platform as a marketing resource without any idea of how to adapt to future changes, developments, and trends.

It is behavior that is remarkably similar to that of the late 1990s technology bubble. Companies kept going up and up in value, despite no real long-term outlook. Eventually, the bubble burst and the self-proclaimed ‘experts’ ran away, seemingly unable to admit that they were wrong about some things. While social media is unlikely to end the same way, primarily thanks to the massive amount of audience and user participation that is taking place, the marketing strategy applied to social media should reflect the events of the late 1990s.

That means that instead of being remarkably optimistic without reason, companies should be relatively cautious and conservative when embracing social media marketing. Rather than looking at the short-term possibilities, companies should be looking at the long-term implications for their brand, should they sink time and money into a form of marketing that does not offer any long-term solution. Instead of hiring the latest and greatest social media consultant to develop a web strategy, businesses should be looking at their own strategy, and incorporating social media platforms as tactics, not as a replacement.

In short, the focus should not be on social media itself, but on the results that it can bring. As much as we have heard about the myriad ways in which Twitter can change the world, there has been relatively little evidence to support any such theory. Sure, brands are making it big on Twitter and plenty of companies are making some serious marketing income, but there’s yet to be anything to suggest that businesses should discard every marketing method pioneered before 2007 to jump on board the social media train.

If your business is looking to incorporate social media marketing into its strategy, there are several questions you should be asking yourself before you invest the time and money. Is your brand compatible with social media audiences? Are you a business that inspires conversation and discussion? Can you build a reliable, solid community around your business? For most, the answer is no, and a social media presence is not the most effective solution.

For some, the answer is yes, and for them it is wise to look at social media as a piece of the puzzle, rather than as the solution. While Twitter can help you sell products and Facebook can help you generate positive feedback and PR, neither can fix a broken business model or a poor product. Social media thrives on discussion, and when there’s none to be had, there’s nothing but resources to be wasted. Study the social media platforms before you dive in, and invest time and money cautiously.

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For busy brands and business people, maintaining a social media presence can be a drain on time and motivation. From the thousands of replies that come in every morning to the endless pitches, requests and questions, keeping up with your audience can seem more like a task than a worthwhile activity. Social media is all about communication, but when you’re forced to communicate with thousands of people at once the entire point can seem lost and difficult to cope with.

That’s why the top social media users optimize their online presence. While it’s essential to know your audience for a good online career, it’s much more important to live a life that doesn’t revolve around serving their every need. If you want to minimize your social media commitment while maximizing the results, these simple optimization techniques can help you decrease the amount of time required to respond to messages, limit your incoming email, and allow you to focus on your projects rather than your audience.

#1: Be clear about your communication limits.
Half of the reason that major bloggers and social media experts receive so many emails and requests is that they don’t specifically and explicitly ask not to receive them. Your audience is going to respond how you let it respond, and without setting limits on emails and personal contact it’s easy for that communications channel to spiral out of control. Focus on what you want from your contact, and make it clear to your audience that some types of contact might not get a response.

#2: Limit your distractions.
Wasting time on distractions and non-essential activities can cost you a lot of valuable time and lost potential income. We’ve all had days that end up wasted in front of the computer, and they’re never the ideal outcome. By limiting your social media distractions you can avoid these productivity nightmares and focus on projects that are more important to you.

#3: Don’t follow everyone that follows you.
When you listen to everyone, it’s impossible to focus on what matters. Sure, they’re your audience and your followers, but two-way contact will always end in missed opportunities and wasted time. To make your audience more controllable, focus on following only the people that you truly want to hear from. If someone out there has a message that’s absolutely essential for you to hear, rest assured that it will find its way to you – those things always do.

#4: If you have to, selectively outsource parts of your social media presence.
Tim Ferriss took outsourcing to new levels in his book ‘The Four Hour Workweek,’ and while it drew controversy, it drew many more adopters. Outsourcing isn’t particularly difficult, and when managed properly it can save you a lot of time. If you’re not a fan of hiring outside help, there are hundreds of programs and plugins that could save you valuable time. Want to alert incoming email that you might not be able to respond immediately? Set up an auto-responder and program it to let people know you’ll get back to messages as soon as possible. Hire a virtual assistant to help manage many of your social media marketing tasks that don’t involve pretending to be you or communicating as you. Small automations and outsourced tasks can end up saving you hundreds of hours of time every year, so be sure to experiment with them.

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For the past year, we have seen the Twitter phenomenon sweep the world in quite an impressive way. In just a very short time, this social networking site that also doubles as a micro-blog has become one of the most popular sites on the Internet. One of the reasons for Twitter’s appeal is its simple and straightforward approach. For starters, account registration is free completely hassle-free. Once you are registered, you can start searching for other Twitter users to follow and invite them to follow you as well.

Most people who use Twitter do so in order to keep in touch with friends and family. They send updates, called tweets, to let people know what they are up to, as well as receive tweets from users they have chosen to follow. However, many people are also using Twitter for more than personal purposes. For business owners, Twitter has become an essential tool for promoting their products and services online.

Although the basic processes of sending tweets and following users are the same, there are a few things you have to do differently if you are planning to use your Twitter account for business purposes. For one thing, you want to be visible to a wider group of followers and not be restricted to people you already know personally. A great way to do this is with the use of @replies.

An @reply simply means affixing the “@” sign before a user’s name and inserting that before your reply. In order to make the most of @replies on Twitter, you have to use Twitter’s search feature regularly. Find tweets related to products or services you are offering and respond to users who posted related tweets by using @replies.

For example, let’s say you are running a party-planning business. Search for tweets of people posting questions on how to prepare for upcoming birthdays or special events. You can respond to a user who posted by sending her an @reply containing a link to your business website or blog. Your response can be something along the lines of, “@busymom for birthday or party planning tips and professional advice, check out <your url here>” Since the user asked a question, you will essentially be just answering her and your post won’t be considered as unsolicited advice.

This is why @replies are very useful. Instead of simply advertising your products or services to strangers out of the blue, which a lot of people don’t really appreciate, you will actually be providing them a solution to a problem they do have. With the @replies, you will also be addressing the user who posted the question directly, making it less of an advertisement and more of a helpful gesture.Another advantage of using @replies is you don’t necessarily have to be someone’s follower in order to send her @replies. On the contrary, you can even use these @replies to further expand your contact list on Twitter. The more @replies you post, the more people will be able to see you. If they find your @replies or tweets to be quite interesting or relevant to their issues, they may even choose to follow you on Twitter.

Since Twitter is a rapidly growing website with more than two million users, the opportunities of reaching potential clients is limitless. If you use the features of the site properly, you can expand your business tremendously in no time at all.

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There is no doubt that social media is one of the most effective marketing channels around, especially for powerful word of mouth feedback and viral content. From airlines to eateries, thousands of businesses around the world are embracing social media content to further their influence, expand their business, and increase their online marketing power.

However, with the good comes the bad, and there are certainly businesses that are embracing the wrong kind of social media promotion. Marketing is a field that is talked about by many, yet understood by relatively few, and the many recent failed social media marketing campaigns are evidence to the rules that you have to follow when marketing online.

These are the five biggest mistakes businesses make when they market online. From spam tactics to destructive marketing messages, everything that could hurt your online marketing image is covered. Get your marketing plan out, take notes, and eliminate any of the following from your marketing efforts:

1. Don’t just link to your company blog on Twitter.

Twitter users hate just being fed linked content. While it is easy to write off the entire medium as a backlink platform, doing so leaves an incredibly powerful marketing resource completely untapped. Invest some time in developing a real strategy for every social media platform that you use, and don’t just half-use something for backlinks and channel funneling. A much better strategy is to combine different social media platforms to create a tailored, powerful message.

2. Facebook groups are great for cult businesses, bad for ultra-small.

Why? Because the entire nature of a group gets destroyed when there are only a couple of people participating in the discussion. If you are a cult brand that attracts a lot of passion from your customers, users, or clients, a Facebook group is a great idea. Otherwise, it is best to keep your conversation in channels that you can easily attach yourself to. Small businesses benefit highly from blogs and micro-publishing, so a Twitter or blogging presence is much more valuable, as is a Facebook Fan Page.

3. Don’t drop everything to take on social media.

There are other marketing channels out there, and they are often much more effective than social media. For some, social media is their marketing calling card, but that does not mean that is has to be the same for you. Some brands translate better than others across different marketing platforms and formats. While one brand may succeed in a social media world, another might fall flat.

4. Don’t always listen to your social media feedback.

Feedback needs to be approached as a whole unit, not as disjointed units of variable value. When you use social media to spread your word, it’s easy to fall for the fallacy of valuing it higher than it really is. Feedback is valuable no matter what the form, and treating social media feedback as more valuable than a mailed letter is a broken strategy.

5. Don’t spam.

There are laws against email spam. There are laws against mailing spam. At this point, there are no laws about spamming your followers on Twitter. Don’t do it. As much as it can boost your short-term returns, spamming is quite possibly the worst long-term strategy imaginable. Focus on real connections, not the false connections that spamming creates.

Now here are some words to live by in your social media marketing campaigns. Write them down on a sticky, post them next to your computer, and refer to them often….

Lighten up, Share, Encourage, Embrace, Inspire, Converse, Listen, Ask, Answer, Be Real, and HAVE FUN!

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As the Internet evolves from its technology to its software, and changes the way we communicate, it has opened us to a whole new world of social media. Blogging is one such evolving method of communication, and WordPress is one of the foremost accepted platforms for people wanting to get into the blogging action.

Evolving Software

WordPress is free, web-based software that is open source, which means it is available for developers to build upon and alter at will. Over time, its open source flexibility has allowed WordPress to become a content management system (CMS), or a program that creates, edits, and manages website content as well as blog content.

The best part about WordPress is that it doesn’t require knowledge of PHP or HTML code to use it. The blog or website creator chooses the look and rearranges the content simply and without rebuilding whole pages through the code.

While utilizing WordPress to build a website is possible, my preference is to maintain separate platforms for my website and blog by using traditional website development options.  I believe it allows me to take advantage of different options, and search engine optimization methods to capture as many prospects as possible.

Themes and Plug-ins

WordPress has a theme system that allows for easy customization for your blog allowing the creator to change the look of the site as often as they like. WordPress also has features that assist with link management, complex indexing of blog posts, and the ability for multiple authors to add blog or site content. WordPress works well with other blogging services like Trackback and Pingback as well as easy importing of content from other blogs. WordPress also has security features such to control spam and visitor comments, user registration, and password protection for selected posts. There are also hundreds of compatible plugins available that can greatly extend the functionality.

WordPress for Business and Pleasure

WordPress started as a communication tool for the individual, but it also has many benefits to offer to the business world. Since WordPress is so simple to use and maintain, this means less overhead and less time spent for creation and maintenance of the blog platform. The blogging aspect of WordPress also means that companies have an on-demand method for keeping their audiences updated on company business and advertising their products and services. Plus, blogging offers a wonderful method for companies to get feedback from their consumers. It allows you to keep the content fresh, which increases search engine ranking so that the company’s content will have a better chance of audience exposure.

Everyone’s Doing It

With the popularity of social media and the flexible program, ease of installation, and added functionality of plug ins, WordPress provides a way for everyone to be involved and engaged in social media, and utilize the benefits it provides to your overall presence on the Internet.

Jeannine Clontz, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s).  For her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”,  a 2-month trial in her Insider group coaching program, or 1-month trial of her coaching club visit:  http://www.VAbizcoach.com; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

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Social media has worked wonders for marketing. With two-way communication open to almost everyone, every company, no matter how big or small, now has a voice. The problem is that these voices are incredibly hard to monetize. It’s half the result of social media DNA — people don’t like to be marketed to — and half the result of a system that tends to value ‘free’ more than it does limited access.

However, there are several unique ways to monetize your social media presence. From affiliate marketing to sponsored content, the methods by which you can create a profit on social media aren’t complex or all that difficult. With a reliable and dedicated audience, you can comfortably create a social media income, retain and grow your audience, and establish yourself as an online authority. These four methods have worked for the big social media presences, and they can work for you!

#1: Sponsored messages and content.
Much like Google Adsense changed the world for website owners, sponsored tweet and messaging services are changing Twitter for its power users. If you’ve got a sizable following on Twitter, you can earn an income through sponsored tweet programs and advertising circles. This form of income is highly lucrative, however it requires balance and strategy. If you send out nothing but sponsored messages you’ll quickly lose followers and influence. Follow the 80-20 principle — 80% free content and 20% sponsor messages. Whether you believe in the concept of  sponsored tweets or not – it’s a reality and a viable option for some.

#2: Affiliate Marketing.
This is a hugely lucrative way to monetize your online presence, but you really need a strategy to make it succeed. Affiliate marketing can net you commissions of anywhere from .50 cents to $500, depending on what you’re selling and who your selling to. Be very careful about using affiliate links on your Twitter account, as your followers will very quickly disappear if your tweet stream gets overrun with them. Balance them out with huge amounts of valuable content — think of a 95-5 rule — and only ever suggest them if you’re certain it’s a quality product.

#3: Indirectly market your services.
If you’re a popular Twitter presence within your niche, it’s easy to market yourself as an adviser, consultant or service worker. Whatever your field of expertise, network with people in the same area and offer your services through your social media profile. With social media proving a great channel for viewing conversation, you can display other peoples’ tweets, Facebook updates and blog posts on your services, and use them to influence new clients. To monitor influence, set up Google Analytics on your service website and see how much traffic your Twitter account brings in.

#4: Direct traffic to more profitable presences.
There’s a rule for online workers: ‘less is more’. If you’ve got a blog, a Twitter account and a Facebook fan page, it’s not wise to split traffic between them. Instead, focus on the most lucrative resource and use the others to drive traffic towards it. For example, say you run a popular blog which sells advertising space. Instead of splitting traffic between your different accounts, use them to direct traffic towards the blog. This will boost the value of your advertising space, increase your influence, and make you a more attractive selection for online advertisers and sponsors.

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Facebook has millions of users, including individuals, families, groups, and companies around the globe.

The massive web community of Facebook offers possibilities for business owners. Because Facebook is a proven networking tool, businesses should consider reaching out to new customers through this application. In a sense, Facebook is the business owner’s vehicle for free online marketing because anyone can obtain a free profile and business page.

As a member of the Facebook community, a business uses the Facebook Page to develop a “face” on the web. Business owners should exercise caution in establishing the company’s online presence. The new online “face” of the company must not undermine or contradict the brand that the company has already created through conventional marketing strategies. It should go without saying that your Facebook Page should compliment your website, and is never meant to be a substitute for one. Your website and blog continue to be your primary online marketing tools.

The Facebook page is also a way to allow customers to access easy-to-read information about the company, including updates and photos. However, customers will also have the ability to make comments on a publicly viewable Facebook profile. Customers who type in a search engine query such as “ABC Company” can find the company’s Facebook profile in the search results. When customers land on a corporate Facebook page, they should be encouraged to stay and join the contacts of the company with engaging content that you post on the page.

Above all, Facebook is a social marketing tool. The messages you post onto your Facebook pages reflect your company. Do not write content that reads like a marketing brochure or a press release. As a business owner, remember to use a web-user-friendly style in all text. Two phrases that describe this communication style are “abbreviated” and “conversational.” But what makes online text conversational? Look at the two examples below.

Sentence #1: ABC Company is pleased to announce that the third line of its eco-friendly t-shirts will be available for sale online on December 1.

Sentence #2: ABC Company launches our third line of T-shirts on December 1! Check back on Facebook for a link to our order page. Get a T-shirt of your own for a great price.

After reading the two sentences above, which one would you select as more conversational and appealing to a Facebook reader?

The second sentence offers all of the same information as the first sentence; however, the second sentence is more casual. The informal tone of the second sentence ensures that many Facebook readers will feel like ABC Company is talking directly to them.

Remember that Facebook and other social networks create new business marketing buzz. If you want to unlock the potential of Facebook, begin by conducting research on how social media marketing works. Your exploration of social media marketing strategies will give you a better understanding of how to use Facebook for online marketing.

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Well, it finally happened. I have migrated my mobile phone experience from a Windows-based smartphone (T-Mobile Dash) to Apple’s iPhone 3GS. Partly because my Dash was over 2 years old and acting up a bit, partly because I turned 50 last month and my husband surprised me with a trip to the AT&T store, and partly because I just wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about. One thing you may not know about me is that I’ve been a Microsoft fangirl from way back, so making the switch to an Apple mobile device was something I’ve resisted up until now.  Overall, I’m really having a fun time with my new iPhone. It’s definitely different. The whole touchscreen thing is new to me and I’m slowly getting used to it. At first I really missed having buttons, but now…not so much. I was also worried about not knowing how the AT&T cell service in my area would be compared to the awesome T-Mobile cell service was, but fear not… it’s just as great.

The first thing I noticed was that it is physically bigger than the Dash. That’s OK. The feature that has put me over-the-top in love with the iPhone from the very beginning is the screen size (aka workspace). Holy Moly! Where have you been all my life?!?!

Something I discovered that you can easily do is to add a new desktop icon to your favorite websites, thus completely customizing your iPhone to access the sites you most commonly visit. While you’re on any webpage in the browser on your iPhone, click on the plus sign and select Add To Home Screen. OMG!

And can I just go on the record to say that the web browsing experience is FAR superior to that on my T-Mobile Dash.  Since this is not a Dash-bashing post, I’ll simply say that my iPhone will not strictly be a mobile tool for me to get my email anymore. It’s so much more. Plus, I do understand that there’s a new T-Mobile Dash on the market, however… the call of the iPhone was too strong for me to ignore. Dang it! I just wanted one, OK!!?

The other thing I love is the application store. I feel like someone handed me a credit card and told me to shop-till-I drop. There are free apps a-plenty to choose from. While I’m not a big fan of using iTunes, I’ll suck it up as I walk down each virtual aisle and get to pick and choose what bling I want to get for my new toy business tool. Finding new applications is fun, but a bit time-consuming. I have always been a huge fan of “top 10″ and “Best of” types of articles, so Mashable has become my new BFF when looking for iPhone application lists. I’m having a lot of fun exploring the applications for social networking, too. These make it really easy to interact with the various social networks away from my computer.

Since this is my first iPhone blog post here, I’d like to share an application that has me as excited as my puppy gets when he thinks I have a treat in my hands — the Facebook for iPhone 3.0. All I can say is WOW! I’m in Facebook Business Page heaven. Forget about looking at my Facebook profile, it’s the integration with Pages that has me seeing stars.  Just days before it became available, I read an article about the new version of this application and couldn’t wait until it was approved. While there are some missing features that people are wanting, I’m quite happy with the new functionality to work with the Facebook Pages I’m an admin for.

Other social networking applications I’ve installed and are exploring are TwitterFon, Nambu, LinkedIn, and Wordpress (Thank you, Mashable!). I’m also exploring various ways to work with my ping.fm account, including something I just found called Pingle.

In upcoming blog posts I’ll be exploring more of these social applicatons and more, then sharing my experiences with you.

What about you? Any iPhone users out there that have an application you’ve discovered that makes you all giddy or gives you that warm fuzzy feeling inside? I’d love to hear from you!

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I wanted to talk about this for a few minutes. I had a great time!

I am @CandyTX and @2minuteswithava on Twitter
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Social Media Marketing sure is HOT! I have been very successful in helping clients with my Social Media Marketing packages, but one of the questions I’m always asked is, ‘What are the benefits?’

While most clients want to be assured that closing new business is a part of the benefit, and it is, it is probably the least in overall importance to your total marketing efforts within this platform.

As a generally ‘free’ form of marketing, social media can generate incredible exposure for your business. With proper use of your profile areas, and links, you can create lots of exposure to your offerings.

Not only will this increase traffic to your web presence, but you can increase your subscribers/database by making sure that you have something to offer people, with little to no cost, when they first connect to your home page.

These tools can also connect you to new business opportunities and joint ventures. By searching for groups that connect to your target market, you will soon find others well suited to your niche. These connections can lead to some pretty incredible relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs.

All this activity, back and forth between your social media also helps to increase your search engine optimization. Sort of a nice bonus – you’ll be much more visible when people are looking for your products and services.

Participation in multiple social marketing communities and groups can also help to generate a more qualified lead. Connections can be made through mutual friends, testimonials and recommendations, all which help to establish you as a trusted expert. In many cases, the lead has already decided to do business with you before they ever make a connection.

And while I will say that these social media sites have certainly helped me to close sales with new prospects, many in areas of the world I might never have reached otherwise, I believe the most important benefit I’ve found to social media marketing is the overall reduction of my marketing expenses.

By adjusting my marketing plan and being consistent with social networking, I have been able to reach more prospective clients, build stronger relationships with current clients, peers, and colleagues, for little to no cost. How bad could that be?

So take the plunge. Get involved with Social Media…and enjoy the ride!

Jeannine Clontz, IVAA CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, owner of Accurate Business Services is a Virtual Assistant (VA). ABS provides ‘as needed’ marketing support to busy entrepreneurs. Clontz is a writer, author, VA Coach, and speaker on business topics including business ethics. For her free 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, send a request to: service@accbizsvcs.com. For more information visit: http://www.accbizsvcs.com, www.VAbizcoach.com or her book website http://www.entrepreneurialfreedom.com

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