Sunday, November 28, 2010

What Should Your Facebook Profile Look Like?

Hello Everyone,

Your Facebook profile is very important for others to get to know who you are. If your profile is not set up correctly you will have visitors judging everything else but YOU!

What do I mean about that? I see most people set up their profile 20% THEM and 80% THEIR BUSINESS! When a visitor comes to that type of profile they judge the business before they judge the person. Putting your business in your profile page doesn't separate you from your competition. Another issue I see with most people that they use their company LOGO as a profile picture. This is even worse than putting your business in your profile because they will judge your picture before looking at your profile page. Another one that I see that most people do is they put 6, 8 and/or up to 10 links to their website. This will scare a visitor when they see this because that is a sign of desperation or THROWING UP!

So let me show you how to set up your Facebook profile the right way. You see, you want your visitor to JUDGE YOU not your BUSINESS! Why? This is a RELATIONSHIP BUSINESS not let me show you what I do and then get to know me. The first thing you should do is to get a good picture of yourself with a good background. Now I don't mean a picture of yourself with your company banner behind you but with a goal. For example, My picture is myself with a BMW that I want. It sparks up conversation and makes your visitor curious. Another good background is a place that you like or want to go ( beach, cruise etc. ). The next thing you should do is to place a message below your picture describing a purpose and directing your visitor to a blog where they can learn more about you. If you don't have a blog DON"T send them to your company website. Make sure when you set your Facebook account you know WHY you are setting up your profile. For example I call myself Facebook Specialist because I teach others how to market on Facebook. You may be there to develop good friendships, specialty, etc. just place it there.

The next thing you should do is to write a bio about yourself. It should not be 10 or 20 paragraphs long, it should tell a short story about yourself. Pretend like you are talking to your visitor, it makes it easier to type your bio. DON'T TALK ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS but you can talk about why you are involved with a Home-Based Business or Direct Sales. Remember tell a story! And last your links should go to a blog NOT YOUR BUSINESS! You want your visitor to get to know you NOT YOUR BUSINESS!

Remember you want to show value to your visitor so that you can stand out from the other 97% that put 100 links and their company banner. If you are brand new and are wondering how you can show value, pick up an e-book or a course on a marketing strategy and teach it for FREE! That is ATTRACTION MARKETING my friend!

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

Social Networking: A Prevalent Phenomenon

"Social networking is in its infancy and I'm guessing it will become as widespread as email," - Richard Kimb

By definition a social network is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities.
The above said statement by Mr. Richard Kimb has been rightly quoted, what Mr. Richard believes in is surely on its way to reality. According to SocialTwist.com, Internet sharing trends have shifted heavily toward social networking. A statistical report highlighting Social Networking Trends by Bob Hazlett has showcased very astonishing results. According to him, Facebook has more than 60 million active users worldwide, with their numbers doubling every six months. Myspace on the other hand has more than 110 million monthly active users around the globe. Twitter has become the most effective tool for click-through. All these statistics have a story to tell; social networking which began as a humble approach in the late 90s has been metamorphosed into something extraordinary. In simple layman's language, it has become a medium for expressing human emotions.

This service is designed to be very user friendly and simple in layout. It generally requests the user to create a profile of them and mention their details and socially shareable information as per their personal interest. Once the profile has been created people can connect with other users of the website. Many social connecting websites are available in the cyber space, but the most prominent ones are Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Hi5 and Bebo to name a few. In this modern age sharp edged competition has kept these e-networks on their toes, in the attempt to attract maximum traffic these websites often come up with innovative ideas for which they are handsomely rewarded. For example, Facebook started allowing users share information present anywhere on the internet via the website's "Share" feature, this made the website engaging and subsequently lead to its percentage increase of market share, especially in India. A host of other activities like playing games, chatting with friends, exchanging mails, watching videos, reading articles, etcetera can be done when on a social networking website.

The rise of cyberspace networking has influenced the functioning of various sectors around us. Nowadays, people use social networks to enhance their business and brand value. Online tutors are available nowadays which make use of these networking sites to interact with their pupils efficiently. The list is endless, but as goes the saying "Each coin has two sides", this medium has its share of flaws too. Since social networking has become prominent there has been a tremendous rise in the rates of cyber thefts reported. Also a steep increase has been reported in cases of internet addiction disorder (IAD). Social Networking true to the sense has dissolved geographical limitations and has definitely made relationships closer but it resulted in certain bad experiences too. This medium has tremendous potential but only if used wisely.

Social networking also went one step ahead with people using websites to manage their bookmarks which are similar to favorite pages which was managed in the web browser till date.

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

Obama's Custom Social Network

The recent years have seen a lot of entrepreneurs moving to online platforms to grow their business. Specifically, by using social media websites to establish a profile and brand for their company online. The importance of using social networking sites has become apparent to business owners, but unfortunately a lot of bad advice is out there on how to grow a custom social network.

I've spent five years studying and participating in social networking websites, and can tell you that most of the "new" advice out there on social media marketing is wrong! In fact, "experts" are having you chase around things that can have little growth affect on your business. So what's the key to social media success? To use social networking websites to build and foster a community!

One of the most important justifications I've ever seen behind this was with Barack Obama's 2008 political campaign. The election was the first to massively use social networking sites to connect with people. No matter what your political views are, his case is a case worth studying when trying to figure out how to launch your social networking campaign.

His campaign leaders recognized the importance of social networking (which later polls would show was one of the key reasons he won) early on in the election. They went out and actually hired one of Facebook's co-founders, Chris Hughes, to run the online portion of their campaign. Now remember, we are dealing with a people who had millions of advertising dollars at hand, and almost unlimited resources and technology to reach out to people. Hughes, however, knew what Facebook (and all social networking sites) was designed for and launched a different campaign idea.

His main focus was to build a strong social community around Obama. He set up the main website for Obama as its own custom social network, allowing people to register and design profiles based around the candidate, and to invite their friends to participate. Hughes knew the importance of viral marketing, and the importance of giving people the controlled power to promote their thoughts and ideas (centered on the candidate's ideas). Hughes made sure that all of Obama's Facebook, Twitter, pod casts, and other social media forums reflected the same goal, to build an online community for the offline election.

Now, Hughes did use paid advertising on Facebook, but only after the initial community had been set up. The secret to Barack Obama's online success was through building an online community around his ideas and campaigns. Hughes knew that social networking websites were designed for people to interact in online communities, and structured Obama's presence accordingly. When you build a community around your business, you're giving people the power to do all the work for you, like in Obama's case.

As Obama's campaign ended, Chris Hughes came forward with the numbers he generated for the campaign. The users on his website had created more than 2 million profiles, partook in the planning of over 200,000 offline events, formed 35,000 separate groups, posted nearly 400,000 blogs, and raised $30 million on 70,000 personal fund raising pages.

Instead of trying to sell to the community that is already online looking for your product or service, you need to become a part of that community, as the expert (or a expert) in your niche. Once you have established a community around your business, you will be able to grow (and sell) your business in ways that people only imagined before.

-Jerry Nihen

Jerry Nihen runs the popular website Jay Nine Lessons. Want to learn more ways that social networking can benefit your business? Discover the secrets behind social networking for businesses at http://www.jayninelessons.com

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