Category Archives: Social Media Marketing

Social Entrepreneurship: The Facts And Future

Blogging, Business Tech, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing

Social Entrepreneurship: The Facts And FutureSocial entrepreneurship is all about sustaining social value. It is simply about pursuing solutions to different social problems that a society faces on a daily basis. A social entrepreneur first identifies a social problem before implementing acquired principles to build a procedure that would ensure social change. Social entrepreneurs change the order by seizing the opportunities to improve the systems in the society just like the way business entrepreneurs change the face of their businesses.

It is no longer a new term in the modern world considering the growth and maturation of democracy across different countries. Different administrations have provided rights to free speech and expression and as such social entrepreneurs are now among the most popular people in our societies.

Elements Of Social Entrepreneurship

Typically, governments bear the responsibility of providing solutions to the social problems of its people. Social entrepreneurs will however come in and help with this. Rather than leaving the responsibility entirely to the government, they will partner to create an answer. Change is an important element of any social entrepreneurship undertaking and whether it’s a conflict, war, children starving or even inadequate sanitation, social entrepreneurs are all about changing the system and spreading the solution. All these efforts are geared towards persuading the society to take new leaps.

Apart from change, another vital element in social entrepreneurship is support. Each entrepreneur commits his or her own life to providing innovative, ethical and user-friendly ideas in order to gain support in changing the system. Without widespread support from the relevant people, the activities are useless. This is why the entrepreneurs aim at guaranteeing that the people seize the idea and stand up for change.

The Future Of Social Entrepreneurship

With more and more people now exposed to the idea and differently motivated to join the field, social entrepreneurship has new elements in the realization of its goals. Technology is one of the important elements facilitating the entrepreneurship activities in the modern world. With different mobile gadgets and access to the internet platform for the devices, societies can now access real-time information about their lives. There are also apps that have been trained and can transform anyone to a journalist or a blogger. With these, anyone can champion for change in the society and even manage to disseminate the knowledge to the many. The era of the many being commanded by the few is over. The few can now stand up for their rights with the knowledge they possess.

The emergence of the social entrepreneur is also a significant step towards the future of social entrepreneurship. This refers to someone who is a self-identified change maker within a political system or organization. There have been personnel and executives that have been creative in finding ways to turn their organizations into agents of change.

Another step towards the future of social entrepreneurship is empowering the youth. A good proof of this is the creation of this “about Herbalife review“, which was written by a young online entrepreneur. Social entrepreneurs are now working with the youth in order for them to develop life skills that will help them solve problems in the upcoming and new world. The youth are encouraged to stand up for their rights and scale through collaborations with other young people from different parts of the world; those who face the same social problems.

Our guest post was provided by Eva F. Durham is a mother of 3 and lives in Charlotte. She is a mom blogger who is able to draw thousands of visitors a month. She blogs about her experience and how she is able to use technology to aid her being a single mom.

How To Create A Business Page On Facebook – Step By Step Guide

Blogging, content marketing, Facebook Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, , ,

How to Create A Facebook Business Page - Step by StepBusinesses have been increasingly turning to Facebook as a way of advertising their business and in gaining brand recognition. Facebook, with its myriad number of users, represent an excellent customer base from which a company can gain additional market exposure. Best of all, creating a business Facebook page is free for a company and can be done quickly and easily. To do so, follow the guide to set up a Facebook page detailed below.

Registering with Facebook

The first step to developing a business Facebook page involves registering a business account with Facebook. Simply log on to Facebook and create a business account to set up a business Facebook page. Choose a name for your business Facebook page that is representative of your business and create a web address that people can find easily. Add a photo for your profile and additional photos for your business Facebook page as well that are detailed as well. Once this is created you have registered your business Facebook page and are ready to start posting.

Blog Posts

People visit your Facebook page in order to get information about your company but also to read the webpage posts that you have. These posts are known as blog posts and should be representative of the information you are trying to communicate to your website readers. These blog posts can be on any number of topics but should provide readers with information that they are looking to obtain regarding to your business. Examples may be product discounts, information on your products, and any upcoming product releases. Any additional information regarding your products may be also good posts for Facebook.

Gaining an Audience

It is also important to start to gain an audience for your Facebook page. To do so, try sending a mass email to your company’s business contacts. Many of them will become friends and you will have a reoccurring audience for your Facebook page. To gain additional friends try offering incentives for those that become site friends such as promotions and discounts to your webpage. Frequent blog posts on your Facebook page will generate additional Facebook page views and gather more friends. The more effort you put into developing and updating your Facebook page the more people will like it and spend more time following it which can be good for business. Respond to comments in a regular manner and provide positive support and feedback to website viewers who post comments. Keep a good sense of humor and do not get lured in by trolls who will always respond negatively to whatever it is that you post on your Facebook page.

Conclusion

A Facebook page is an excellent tool for a business that is looking to reach new customers. Setting up a business Facebook page is easily and, best of all, it is free to do. A Facebook page is also an efficient way to reach a wide audience. Simply register for a business Facebook page, add a profile description and picture, and start posting. Attract an audience for your page by offering incentives to friends and for likes and keep up with the site to attract regular users and build up a Facebook page web presence.

Today’s post was provided by Brian S. from VirtualAssistantIsrael.com. Brian is a Rollins College graduate and has been blogging professionally for the last 2 years.

6 Ways To Build More Engagement On Facebook

Facebook Marketing, Mobile Marketing, SEO, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Viral marketing

Facebook EngagementSuccessfully marketing your businesses on Facebook isn’t just about the number of fans that you have. Now certainly, the more fans you have the better (overall) but what you also need is an engaged audience.

In other words, successful Facebook marketing is all about interaction, rather than just you publishing content and nobody responding to it.

Not only is a highly engaged audience far more likely to see you as a trusted authority and end up buying from you, but in addition Facebook’s EdgeRank formula – which determines what posts you see in your newsfeed – is also set up to reward posts that get a lot of interaction.

In this way by building engagement with your Facebook audience you’ll find more and more people actually see your status updates, leading to more marketing leverage overall.

So what can we do to actively drive engagement with our fans, and in doing so significantly increase the results we’re seeing from our marketing efforts?

Share Images

Images tend to get far more engagement than many other types of content principally because they are so eye-catching in your feed. So when you’re sharing content from your site, don’t just paste a bare old link into the box.

Instead, use Creative Commons licensing to find the best royalty free images you can and then upload these to Facebook. Add a little text and a link to your article and you’ll find far more people like and share your post, and the traffic you receive as a result will also be far higher than usual.

Ask Questions

Questions are a great way to build interaction and engagement because people love to give their opinions. A smart idea is to frequent popular forums in your niche, as well as sites like Quora, Reddit and Yahoo Answers, to find questions that keep cropping up again and again. Then find ways to turn these ideas into questions you can ask your fans on Facebook.

Create A Simple Poll

While Facebook has a simple “poll” option for status updates, we’ve seen far better results on our Facebook page by simply asking an “A or B” question by typing it into the status box.

For example if you were in the pet niche, you could ask people if they prefer cats or dogs. if you were in the sport niche you could try pitting soccer against basketball and so on. As these are “opinion-based” questions there are no right or wrong answers and it can be a fun way to encourage your fans to take part in your page.

Facebook Comments

Did you know that you can now let your blog visitors leave their comments using Facebook? If you’re driving traffic from Facebook to your site, using a WordPress comments plugin that displays your visitors comments directly on your Facebook page can be very powerful indeed.

Not only does it make commenting easier for your visitors but in addition all those extra comments showing up on Facebook can kick-start the virality of any content that you share with your fans.

Be Personable

People like businesses that have a public figure as the “leader”. Think of Steve Jobs from Apple or Richard Branson from Virgin. In other words, when you’re interacting on your Facebook page, try not to do it just as a “brand” but as an individual.

Share stories about yourself. Use your name. Show people you’re a real person and they’ll mentally build up an image of you and will feel more rapport between you.

Respond To Comments

Finally, nobody likes to leave a comment only for it to languish unloved after all their effort. So instead, try to be the most regular visitor to your Facebook fan page. Log on regularly and interact with others. Respond to their comments. Speak to them as valued individuals and they’ll be far more likely to continue interacting with you and engaging with your brand.

Our Guest Author: Richard Adams is a UK-based technology writer whose popular ebook entitled “How To Promote Your Blog” teaches dozens of ways to increase traffic to your website.

5 Web Trends Every Business Should Know

SEO, SEO video, Small Business Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Video marketing, , ,

5 web trendsWhether you conduct business in cyberspace or run a local small business, the Internet inevitably will influence the success of your business. Recent years have seen web technologies evolving at an astonishing pace. These five trends represent some of the most vital web trends that businesses should know and consider.

1. Cloud Services are becoming Standard

Cloud services have leveled the playing field between businesses of all sizes. Unfortunately, this also means increased competition. With the cost savings and productivity benefits of cloud services, many businesses will need to consider not whether they can afford to utilize cloud services, but whether they can afford not to use them. From allowing more work outside the office to managing clients, cloud services offer affordable ways to accomplish more at prices any business can afford. For an in-depth guide on cloud services, consider this guide at InfoWorld.

2. Webinars are changing the Way that Businesses Conduct Video marketing

From product demonstrations to question and answer sessions, webinars are quickly becoming a popular way for businesses to engage their clients and customers. Though in-house events and promotions will always have their place in business routines, webinars are becoming an ever-popular way to invite others into some aspect of your business and to build up buzz about a product launch or event. These online events are also a great way to capture information for marketing purposes. Chris G offers a brief overview of how webinars work and what they have to offer your business.

3. Virtual Environments are the Next Hot Trend

Virtual environments, such as those offered by InterCall, are one of the newest ways to host events and extend your business’ online presence. From virtual trade shows and meetings to employee training or online learning, virtual environments combine popular elements video marketing, Internet conferencing, webinars, trade shows and other business events with an easy to use Internet interface. This allows customers, clients or employees to attend from anywhere in the world with a few clicks of their mouse. Many virtual environment hosts make it easy to customize the environment with branding and other visual elements for increased engagement and marketing potential as well. As an emphasis on globalization, cloud services and other technologies continues to grow, this innovative solution will become more popular.

4. Internet Video Conferencing is becoming increasingly Affordable and Vital

Video conferencing is helping to eliminate physical distance as a hindrance to business communication and productivity. From small team collaborations and personal conversations to full-scale conferences with hundreds of attendees, there are a variety of platforms available to meet business needs. Most modern conference call services support numerous ways for attendees to get involved. Features, such as collaboration, conference archiving and file sharing, provide numerous benefits over traditional or phone-based conferencing. Whether they are streaming the conference to their smart phone while on a business trip or sitting in a virtual conference center with other attendees, the result is a fully interactive and engaging experience for everyone. Computer World recently outlined 7 of the most popular solutions.

5. Social Media is Here to Stay

In the last year, social media has solidified its place in the business process. While the coming year will likely see many businesses analyzing the benefits of social media with increasing depth, it is certainly not going anywhere. Customers are beginning to view social media as a common communication platform as well. A recent post at eWeek outlines some of the findings from a recent Gartner study on social media expectations. Gartner predicts that by the end of the year, businesses that fail to establish a social media presence and monitor it regularly could see a significant backlash from both existing and potential customers. If your business has not yet established a social media presence, BlogTyrant offers a great guide on choosing the right platforms and getting started.

The Internet continues to change the way that the world does business. From making it simple to communicate around the world to providing new and powerful ways to market your brand or products, the Internet is an essential tool for any business. These five trends are likely to shape businesses in the coming year.

About the Author: Stephan Jukic is a freelance writer who generally covers a variety of subjects relating to the latest changes in white hat SEO, mobile technology, marketing tech and digital security. He also loves to read and write about location-free business, portable business management and finance. When not busy writing or consulting on technology and digital security, he spends his days enjoying life’s adventures either in Canada or Mexico, where he spends part of the year. Connect with Stephan on LinkedIn.