Web Design, Development & Online Marketing - Serving the Central and North Texas Markets

Consumer behavior is changing and social media enables companies to keep right up-to-date with their clients' requirements as well as allow satisfied clients to spread the word about their products and services. Social media advertising can be a great asset in the business world for lead generation, brand recognition and real time market research, but it is important that your campaigns are run in an effective manner. Knowing and understanding how these techniques augment communication and provide new ways to build trust in your products and services by enhancing your online reputation is critical to your social media success. In our upcoming webinar "Integrate Social Media with Your Sales Process: 6 Steps to Fill Up Your Sales Funnel" will cover the following topics:

• How social media is enhancing the process of relationship selling

• Why it is important to embrace social techniques to enhance your sales process

• Six steps that should be employed to create an effective online sales process that will convert browsers into buyers

These six steps should be employed to create an effective online sales process that will convert browsers into buyers. Registration details are below:

Topic: Integrate Social Media with Your Sales Process: 6 Steps to Fill Up Your Sales Funnel
Date: Thursday, July 7, 2011 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT
Register: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/453756160

Understanding Social Media strategy is important but if you don’t know where to apply this understanding then it won’t be useful to your company. There are tons of Social Media Networking sites available for any and everyone to join and it can be over whelming when trying to figure out which ones are applicable to you.

Focus.com created a list of the top 50 social sites every business needs to have a presence on. In this post we only list the first 3 in each category.

Social Bookmarking Sites
Reddit: Upload stories and articles on reddit to drive traffic to your site or blog. Submit items often so that you'll gain a more loyal following and increase your presence on the site.
Digg: Digg has a huge following online because of its optimum usability. Visitors can submit and browse articles in categories like technology, business, entertainment, sports and more.
Del.icio.us: Social bookmark your way to better business with sites like del.icio.us, which invite users to organize and publicize interesting items through tagging and networking.

Professional-Networking Sites
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a popular networking site where alumni, business associates, recent graduates and other professionals connect online.
Ecademy: Ecademy prides itself on "connecting business people" through its online network, blog and message-board chats, as well as its premier BlackStar membership program, which awards exclusive benefits.
Focus: Focus is a business destination where business professionals can help each other with their purchase and other business decisions by accessing research and peer expertise. Most importantly, Focus provides open, quality information for all businesses that is freely available, easily accessible, and community powered

General Social Media Sites
Wikipedia: Besides creating your own business reference page on Wikipedia, you can connect with other users on Wikipedia's Community Portal and at the village pump, where you'll find conscientious professionals enthusiastic about news, business, research and more.
Newsvine: Feature top employees by uploading their articles, studies or other news-related items to this site. A free account will also get you your own column and access to the Newsvine community.
43 Things: This site bills itself as "the world's most popular online goal setting community." By publicizing your company's goals and ambitions, you'll gain a following of customers, investors and promoters who cheer you on as you achieve success.

Job Sites
CareerBuilder.com: Reach millions of candidates by posting jobs on this must-visit site.
The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal: The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal attracts well-educated professionals who are at the top of their game. Post a job or search résumés here.
CollegeRecruiter.com: If your firm wants to hire promising entry-level employees, check CollegeRecuriter.com for candidates with college degrees.

Most companies know of the top three social sites Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but others can be equally, if not more effective for your business based on what you are wanting to accomplish. It’s important to know your goals of using social media for your brand before just jumping in, with that understanding you will be able to pick the right social platforms for maximum results. Still confused? Contact your WSI Consultant today to get your questions answered.

A Facebook Static page

A Facebook Static page adds advanced functionality to your Page using the Facebook Static FBML application. This application will add a box to your Page in which you can render HTML or FBML (Facebook Markup Language) for enhanced Page customization. It will also allow you to create a landing page so your Fans can get a custom message from you before they can navigate through the rest of you Page. The FBML application is only for Facebook Fan Pages, not personal or group pages. You can use this application to set your company’s page apart from your competition. Adding a static page can be a do-it-yourself project if you have some knowledge of HTML.

A detailed Information page

A detailed information page is critical for the success of your company’s Fan page for obvious reasons. When people go to your page, they want to know who you are before they “like” you. It is critical that all the information be complete. A complete page includes your company logo, location and hours or operation (if applicable), a description of who you are and what you do, and other pertinent information about your company. If you are unsure what to put here, use the information from your company website so there is some consistency with your brand.

Facebook is a social platform. So, don’t forget that beyond the technical components, your focus is to engage with your fans. Post pictures, reply to comments, and stay active with them. This will help fuel the fire for your fans to stay active also, which makes a happy camp fire!

How To Videos – The next best thing to being there

Our friends at Google have introduced a fun website that helps “kids” help parents use their computer. This is a great site to share short “how to” videos for some of the most common and simple tasks that can stump a new computer user. What seems simple to those of us who use technology regularly can be intimidating to older family members. This site allows you to email reference videos on the topic in question so you don’t have to be there in person. www.TeachParentsTech.org

Short Videos, Big Help

As Internet Consultants, we at WSI help businesses clients develop videos of all types that help them communicate messages or instructions to their audience. Multimedia communication can be more personal and engaging and can be more effective is less time than the written word. Just like the Google site referenced, any business can provide something of relevance to help their visitors. Consider a “how to” or a “helpful tip” or “product in use” demo video. Creating these can be fast and affordable. Contact us for a brainstorm of ideas that can impact your business.

Trends in Online Video Use

Online video use is growing quickly for both personal and business related use. Like other content online, this is driven by the fact that it puts the control into the user’s hand. Information and entertainment are accessible on the users terms. This holds true to even Television shows in which almost half (46%) of viewers ages 18 to 34 watch television shows on their computer. The benefit driving the trend is convenience and time flexibility for finding and consuming the content. The same is true for business related marketing content. Useful and helpful video content will trump advertising and sales pitches. So, marketers much be creative in getting message across to target consumers. A Video strategy should be implemented sooner than later.

Question to Ponder:

If a “picture is worth a thousand words”, how much is a video worth? As for the Google site, the helpful videos that open the power of the Internet to our loved ones is priceless.

P.S. Dear Mom, the “on” button is on the right.