What’s Your Social Media Plan ?

I have always felt that some marketing rules mirror life’s rules to live by. For example, I believe any business using social media or thinking about integrating social media into their current marketing plan must consider the six P’s: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. All too often a business owner goes to the …

Online Marketing: Facebook Works Best

If you want to reach customers, you have to do it where they spend their time. And these days that means social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Small businesses are quickly coming to appreciate this fact and rushing to use social media in their marketing efforts. The Fall 2011 Attitudes and Outlook Survey by small-business marketing …

Social Media Strategy 101

Hi! I’m Vikram Bhardwaj, a social media enthusiast – its in my blood. In no other field do I get to combine my love of people and new media technology so well as that of social media! and social media marketing, my specialty, is simply marketing that takes advantage of the emerging social awareness online. …

How Hotels and Travel Companies Are Nailing Social Media

Apart from restaurants, there are few businesses whose fates are linked as closely to online reviews as hotels. That’s why Accorhotels’ move in late 2010 is considered so bold. Last September, the hotel chain began featuring reviews from TripAdvisor on some of its sites. Since Accorhotels has no control of the TripAdvisor content, it’s a …

5 Best Practices for Real Estate Pros on Facebook

According to recent research nearly 80% of real estate agents are using Facebook to market their practice and properties. “Social media has definitely become the wave of the future for real estate advertising,” says Mr Singh, a realtor in DLF Phase 2, Gurgaon. “I use Facebook to promote my listings, to market open houses and …

Be More Persuasive With Social Media

How can you be persuasive with consumers on social media? One of the best books on persuasion is called Influence, in which author Robert Cialdini describes six elements of effective persuasion. I share those tactics below and analyze how they can best be applied to a social media audience. 1. Reciprocation – The Oldest Trick …

The Problem of Prediction: How Real Time Data Changes What You Should Be Doing ?

When it comes to predicting the future, Tony Haile thinks you’re awful. At the Mashable Media Summit, Haile spoke about the importance of real-time data and what your business should be doing with that information. “The more we think we know, the more expert we believe ourselves to be,” says Haile, “and the more likely …

Measuring ROI for Social Media Marketing

Many small and medium-sized businesses today are starting to use social media as a way to advertise and promote their products and services in order to reach a wider audience. But, many SMBs are finding it difficult to track and to measure the ROI from their social media sites and it is a lot more …