Karriann Graf » Small Businesses

Social Media Managers Are The Best Friends You Never Had!

KarriannGraf — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:17:40 +0000

They say behind every successful man you can usually find a woman. This age old adage is especially applicable to the budding entrepreneur and the social media manager. Many smart business owners swear by them. Business moguls don’t make decisions without consulting them first. Why? That’s because a good social media manager can create a highly targeted marketing campaign for you and your business faster than any print media.

What is a Marketing Campaign?

A social media campaign by one of these talented individuals can go a long way in establishing your business status both online and offline. Not only is it more effective than television and radio advertisements but having one made need not cost the earth. A reliable and strong social media campaign will have the correct amount of keywords to attract as much online traffic as it can.

Why use Online Marketing Campaigns?

The internet has been the source of much satisfaction for millions of users worldwide. According to studies an average Facebook user uses the site for 4 hours and 39 minutes while Twitter users can log on for an average of 31 minutes a day. What’s the point of this diatribe you ask? Many of these users at one time or another search for services or products they’re in need of. Social media websites are usually their prime search mediums which can spell good news for the potential businessman.

Social Media Managers

Unfortunately many social media entrepreneurs face a time crunch when it comes to maintaining their online presence. Even though they realize the immense profit they can generate with them, many entrepreneurs face both technical and monetary difficulty when they try to glue themselves to the computer screen.

This is where the immense usefulness of a social media manager comes in. This technically talented individual aids a business owner by maintaining and updating their social network for them. This can be anything from a business blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn account. Other services also include customer reviews, video casting, pod casting and even social bookmarking. They can even maintain an active presence on message boards and forums.

Additionally the business owner will be privy to the latest and most successful advertising venues without having to do much. A social media manager will be able to be where you can’t afford to be. Think of them as proxy individuals or virtual clones if you will. Your manager will be able to take care of your business’ reputation by keeping a steady flow of relevant content on your business website. They will also clean up any problems, technical or otherwise, that may crop up.

A good social media manager will also make sure that all your customers remain satisfied with your services or products. This includes making sure that every client is provided with his/her specific requirements and to keep them up to date regarding any updates or new products. This will have the added benefit of creating a loyal online following, a must have for any big or small business owner.

photo credit: webtreats

How to: Use Foursquare

KarriannGraf — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:05:17 +0000

: Image via CrunchBase

Some of us remember Foursquare as being a popular game at recess where four players would play ball inside of a larger square which was then divided into four smaller squares. The object of the game was to keep the ball in play by bouncing the ball within the other players’ squares until eventually players were eliminated.

Today’s version of Foursquare has a much different meaning. Foursquare is a social media application that is accessible by web and mobile phones it’s where users check in, letting their followers know where they are. These updates can then be posted on your Twitter and Facebook accounts. Updates are also called “pings” when used on the popular iPhone application.

Foursquare is a fun application because it turns the simple check in process into a competition. Users are able to earn badges and other accolades for checking in often and from different places. In the fourth quarter of 2010 Foursquare recently added a feature that tells users how many days they are away from being appointed a “Mayor”.

Foursquare’s launch in 2009 was quite modest with a very limited usage area that included approximately 100 metropolitan areas. They went on to upgrade their model in January 2010 that moved them into the worldwide usage arena. Foursquare reports that there are over half a million users on their network as of March 2010. Growth has been tremendous for the Foursquare network.

Web users can use Foursquare from the browser of their choosing. For smart phone users there are applications available on the iPhone, Windows Phone 7, Android, BlackBerry and webOS systems.

The newest version of Foursquare was launched in September of 2010. This version expands the application. Instead of simply checking in, it also directs the user to new locations and also may introduce the user to some new activities. This is especially fun if you are a tourist visiting an unknown area. This is also a great tool if you are moving to a new neighborhood.

Foursquare is quite the upgrade from the local Yellow Pages. Foursquare not only leads you to new places in a new city, state or neighborhood but it also offers some opinions and reviews of some of the natives.

There are several different badges that a user can earn on Foursquare. There are badges that are pretty general; then there are ones that are specific to cities, events or even specific venues. There is no clear guide on how to earn these badges. Download the application and start checking in today and see how many accolades you can earn.

How many badges have you accomplished on Foursquare?

About Karriann

Karriann Graf is a Social Media Manager/Strategist for small businesses and real estate professionals. Her focus is to help you learn about the best Social Media methods to connect with your clients and customers and increase your revenue.

Why Hiring a Social Media Manager is Great for Your Business

KarriannGraf — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:59:49 +0000

Some business owners try to cut overhead costs by keeping the number of vital staff down to a minimum. But there are some ways you can outsource to freelancers and actually improve profit margins greatly just by having them do their job. One of the most important people to have on your side if you’re conducting business online (or off) is a social media manager.

Social media managers take a ton of work off of your shoulders and carry the burden themselves, freeing you up to focus on product creation and implementation. They can register and manage your existing social network accounts for you on a regular basis, so that your profiles don’t sit stagnant on sites like Facebook or Twitter.

This saves you many hours each day. While your social media manager is busy updating your status to your followers, cleaning up your accounts, creating accounts for you and engaging your audience in conversations, you’re free to work on other profit-pulling tasks.

You can maintain as much or as little control over the operations as you feel comfortable with. For example, you might want someone to go in and blog for you on a daily basis. Or perhaps you only want them to post the blog entries you’ve already written.

You might know exactly which sites you want to market on, or you could hand over the reins to the social media manager and let him or her develop an entire online strategy for creating a buzz using the world of web 2.0.

A good social media manager will know where your target audience is at on the ‘net, and they’ll be able to think of creative methods in which your brand can capture their attention using best practices (not blackhat spammy methods).

Some social media experts may even be able to provide ongoing education to your other employees to help them learn how to utilize the profiles they set up for your business. It can be both an internal and external process, depending on the size and involvement of your staff.

If you have an event coming up, like a sale or new product launch, then a social media representative can handle the buzz creation for that event and execute it in a way that helps you generate more interest for your occasion.

Most importantly, the social media manager will track the results of their campaigns and help you monitor what needs to be done to improve conversion rates from visitors so they turn into sales.

~Warm Regards,

Karriann Graf

Exclusive Report – 500 Million User’s Can’t Be Wrong! Unlock the Unlimited Earnings Potential with the Latest Craze…..FACEBOOK! Fact: If you’re not tapping into a worldwide 500 million person “List” … You’re Losing Money!

About Karriann

Twitter: Creating a Road Map

KarriannGraf — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:44:27 +0000

Setting goals for your Twitter journey is like getting ready for a trip. In order for your trip to be a success you have to plan in advance. You have to decide where you’re going to go and how you’re going to get there, before you leave. Likewise, with Twitter, you need to sit down and set a few goals and determine how you’re going to achieve them before you start the journey. Here are just a few goals that you may want to achieve:

•   Connecting with your customers
•   Networking with people in your Niche and becoming the Expert
•   Driving traffic to your blog/website

Before we go further, let’s take a minute to look at that last goal: Driving traffic to your blog/website.

This should not be your primary goal on Twitter. Driving traffic maybe great for SEO, but it’s not for a social networking site such as Twitter. You’re primary goals should be networking, connecting and providing great value. If you are successful with the first two goals then the traffic will follow.

Now, let’s take a look at these goals more in depth:

1. Connecting with Customers

Think back to when you first started your small business you did a ton of market research. This research was done to assist you in determining your target market. At this point, you should know who your target market is, what their needs are related to what you offer and how you can meet those needs.

For example, if you are a business coach, your research may indicate that currently small businesses are struggling and maybe you have a solution to their problem.

When you’re on Twitter, you want to search for people that own a small business who are struggling. Once you find them, you’ll want to offer advice that might help with their situation or maybe even make recommendations. Notice, I didn’t say “send them a link to your website” provide value to them first.

Twitter is not the place for a hard sell. Once your potential customer sees that you care about their problem, their going to want to know who you are and what you can do for them.

2. Networking with Industry Leaders and Become the Expert

Twitter is a unique place where you can follow, and be followed by, people who are leaders in your industry around the globe. You can keep up with what they’re tweeting about and interact with them. For example, if you own your own business and you just awarded one of your employees for being the Employee of the Month. You can publicly congratulate her by using @herTwitterName in your tweet. She’ll see this and you get noticed too.

If you offer advice, sharing great content and discuss current issues within your industry, you will soon be seen as someone who is an expert in your Niche. In some cases, this may lead potential clients to hire you over others without the social proof, or it may lead to your colleagues outsourcing work to you. In some situations, this could lead to you getting hired as a subcontractor for a project, because of your Twitter connection.

3. Driving Traffic to Your Website

Now, as I mentioned before, this should not be your primary goal for using Twitter. If you tweet nothing but links to your website you will appear as a spammer. So, put this goal in the backseat and focus your efforts on your first two goals, as we discussed above. Once you’ve taken care of those two goals and are consistently providing value to your customers and colleagues, the traffic will take care of itself. Just be conversational have fun and people will automatically gravitate towards you.

Now that you have your road map and you know where you’re going. Getting there will be much easier, more fun and cost effective. What other ideas do you have leave them in the comments area below.

Ready to Create Your YouTube Account

KarriannGraf — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:30:29 +0000

In the next few posts we will be sharing how to get started using YouTube. YouTube has become one of the most popular websites for marketing your videos. Video is in high demand and for you and your business to become the expert in your niche in the coming years you will definitely want to be using video marketing. So lets get started with creating our Account!

Step 1: Navigate to YouTube.com Create an Account

Go to YouTube.com and click the “Create An Account” link at the top of the page.

Step 2: Enter Your Account Details

Enter a username
Enter your location & postal code
Set your date of birth from the drop down options
Select your gender
Choose whether or not you want others to be able to find your channel if they have your email address.
Select whether or not you want to receive email communication from YouTube & their sponsors
Fully read the terms of use.
If you agree to the terms and everything else is correct, click the “I Accept” button.

Step 3: Your Email Address Associate with Your YouTube

If you already have a Google account, you can associate it with your YouTube account simply by entering your Google email and password in the box on the left.

If you do not have a Google account, then you will need to add a different email address, enter a password (twice) and enter the CAPTCHA word verification.

After completing this, click on “Create New Account & Finish”

Step 4: Getting Started

Now after creating your account you are ready to sign in. Once you log in you will see a confirmation message with your account details, links to get started using YouTube and links for finding your friends on YouTube.

With your account created, you’ll automatically have a “channel” in which you can customize and showcase your marketing videos. Take a look at Karriann YouTube Channel. Stay tuned for more on creating your YouTube Channel, Embedding and Uploading Videos and Creating a Playlist.

What other topics would be helpful for us to share on YouTube? Tell us about them in the comments section below!

Why a Social Media Manager is Important

KarriannGraf — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:29:40 +0000

The most important person, when it comes to social media, is a Social Media Manager. A Social Media Manger is the person who is in charge of ensuring that your social media marketing campaign succeeds and grows. If you employ a Social Media Manager then you will find that the experience and increased revenue will skyrocket fast in addition to freeing up some of your own time. Your Social Media Manager can compile and advise you on the best strategies that should run hand in hand with the current social trends.

Social media is currently the best way to network and market ideas so that your consumer base can grow and develop. By using networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube etc, you are able to network like you have never been able to before. The days are gone when you had complicated equations and campaigns to highlight your product! Social media takes away all of that and has replaced it with a simpler one to one system that allows the prospective client to feel like their interests are being taken to heart and that the potential product or service you are offering is tailored to them.

To get your business thriving you need to incorporate social media into your everyday workings and the best way to do this is to hire a Social Media Manager. Your Social Media Manager will open, design and handle all of your online social media profiles. With your business name constantly being displayed on your potential customers networking sites they will choose your brand name over other peoples as displays in their sight then creates displays in their mind which in turn leads them to your product or service. Having someone to reply to their questions, messages and posts on the networking site allow them to feel that you really care and you’re not just a name. This kind of human contact makes them trust you and allows them to be more open and they become a little more willing to listen. All of these efforts help to break down the barriers that your prospects may have at first.

Social Media Managers maintain the pages to keep reminding old and current customers, fans and clients of your presence as well as attracting new customers, fans and clients with giveaways, research interest polls, post interesting facts and special promotions, and service the accounts at all times. With so many different social networking sites out there, hiring a Social Media Manager is a great option since they are right on the pulse of every change, every trend and everything to do with your business, service and/or industry. This allows them to keep your company one step ahead of the competition at all times. Regardless of the size of your company, niche or service, a Social Media Manager can help you to make your business part of the growing world of social media and provide your growing consumer base with a point of contact that fits into their everyday life.

What is a Social Media Manager’s Role?

KarriannGraf — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:25:05 +0000

With technology advancing every day, people and businesses are using social networking sites more and more because it allows them to stay connected to prospects, clients, and leads. With this being said many people and businesses are frustrated and overwhelmed with the hours they spend managing all their profiles. What happens many times is they stop completely and it damages their image a bit. Are you one of these individuals or businesses? The great thing is that there is a solution!

Have you heard of a Social Media Manager? Their role within social media marketing is one that allows the manager to manage several social networking brand profile pages for you or your company so that you have an active profile page on all of the popular social networking sites. It’s important that you have an active profile on the social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Expanding a company’s brand image using social networking sites is a great way to really market your products and or services.

A dedicated Social Media Manager will be able to create from scratch all of your profiles and also create marketing campaigns that co inside and compliment any of your offline promotions and advertizing. Visual stimulation has been shown to create longing and it is this fact that Social Media Managers use to increase your brand’s power and influence in the current market. It will allow you to create a huge gap between you and your competition. By making your more accessible in this manner you are able to show your clients and prospective clients that you are available to them whenever they need you or think of you. You become another “friend” on their list, you are able to post information, answer questions and create interest without having to worry about a thing. As you can see a Social Media Manager can add great value to your team of experts by helping you with some of the daily tasks need for your online presence.

About Karriann

What is a Social Media Manager?

KarriannGraf — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:07:25 +0000

When the Internet evolved into a web 2.0 environment, many found the sheer influx of new social media sites to be overwhelming. When you’re using social networks to help brand and build your business, it’s vital that you have a system in place to organize and manage those tasks, and a social media manager can accomplish that for you.

As an online entrepreneur, you have many hats to wear in your business. You brainstorm ideas, create products, conduct tracking and testing to enhance conversion rates. But you also focus on advertising, and while most marketing costs money, social media is free to those who want to wield its power.

The problem occurs when you start signing up for social networks and realize you don’t have enough hours in the day to manage the operations of it all. So you start looking for someone to outsource the networking tasks to – a social media manager who will be the right fit for your business vision.

You want a social media manager who knows how to immerse himself (or herself) into multi media formats – from text to audio to video. They need to be able to handle blog posts, video presentations and communications with prospective customers on any and all Internet platforms like forums or chat rooms.

Social media managers take on the role of branding your business for you on the World Wide Web, so you want to ensure they don’t engage in black hat spamming and always present your business in its best light.

While you’re busy focusing on the product line and profits, your social media manager will seek out new networking opportunities, have a profile set up for you and begin releasing information to interested viewers about your offerings.

You may notice that most offline companies are now in the process of hiring online media managers to build a rapport with the public. This person will be able to identify your target audience on networking sites and then build a bridge between their needs and your solutions.

They’ll monitor the web to see what buzz is being created about your business and address it accordingly. They will encourage participation and find ways of engaging them in conversations.

Social media managers who are adept at their jobs will easily be able to channel targeted traffic to your website through many of the largest web 2.0 entities in existence – including LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Digg and more. Their job is to create a buzz and circulate information and you reap all of the rewards of those efforts.

Exclusive Report – 500 Million User’s Can’t Be Wrong! Unlock the Unlimited Earnings Potential with the Latest Craze…..FACEBOOK! Fact: If you’re not tapping into a worldwide 500 million person “List” … You’re Losing Money!

About Karriann

Host a Webinar on a Site Like Ustream

KarriannGraf — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:32:59 +0000

: Image via CrunchBase

Video marketing can be used to host a live webinar online for your customers. A webinar is a presentation where you talk and teach and then open up the floor for questions or feedback from the viewers.

Of course you could invest in an expensive system that’s private or use a free webinar tool like Ustream to get the job done. Hosting a webinar online using video lets you brand yourself as a true expert with nothing to hide.

It’s very easy to sign up with minimal information. Then you click Create a Show. You’ll give it a name so that your subscribers can easily find it on the Ustream website. You can save the show for a later date that you schedule or broadcast it immediately.

Once you name your show, it’ll give you the option to add customized details, like a logo for the show. You’ll choose a category and enter tags (keywords) that are relevant to your topic. And you’ll give a brief description of your webinar show.

You can choose which previous clips get saved on the site for others to watch. You can enable or disable comments, enable chatting during the webinar, and appoint moderators to oversee the discussion.

You can even choose to present your webinar with a co-host if you have an available expert you’d like to help field questions or deliver the hot topics to your viewing audience.

Once finished, you’ll be given proper links and codes to promote the event and share it with others. Before you schedule it, make sure it’s at a time when you can have the most viewers.

Have a plan in place as to how you’ll present the information. You want it to be structured, but maybe not as rigid if you enable chatting where you’ll be responding during the presentation.

Some viewers will prefer that you deliver the presentation first and let people chime in afterwards, so that they can see the whole topic unfold and then leave if they want when the discussion opens up.

And perhaps the most important tip that can be shared with you is this – don’t sell, share. A webinar video event isn’t where you hard sell to an audience. It’s where you provide great value and showcase your expertise and then follow up the presentation with a call to action that serves your bottom line.

9 Ways to Use Video to Promote YOUR Business

KarriannGraf — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:38:22 +0000

If you own a business and have a website, then you’ve likely considered video marketing. Once you learn and are determined to implement video, the next step is to decide how to use videos to promote your business. Here are just a few examples:

1. Testimonials – Ask your customers or clients to give you quick 1-minute videos of their feedback. You can also interview them about your business for a more structured testimonial.

2. Product Demos – One of the biggest drawbacks to buying online is that you can’t actually test the product. Bypass that objection and demonstrate your product on video to help increase sales.

3. Case Studies – If you’re involved in some kind of before-and-after (website design, fitness, SEO, etc.) case studies are an excellent way to demonstrate your expertise. Seeing an example helps the potential customer understand exactly what impact your service or product can have on their business.

4. Product Reviews– Video brings an added element to product reviews, particularly if you’re reviewing a physical product. But hearing you talk about a book or piece of software is effective too.

5. Education – Use video to educate your market on the use of your products. Lead them towards the sale by answering their most frequently asked questions and objections.

6. Entertainment – People love to be entertained! If you can entertain in your video and combine that with a call to action, you’ll have a winning combination.

7. Webinars – If you provide webinars or other video presentations to your market, capture them via video and offer a replay to generate leads or even sell as a product.

8. Commercial – Done correctly (meaning compelling with a clear call to action), commercials for your product or service can be very effective.

9. Business Overview – One of the first things many people look for is who they are buying from and what they stand for. Let your potential customers learn about you and your business through a business overview.

As you can see from the list above, there are many ways to use video to promote your business. Just creating video is not the only step to effective marketing. You must craft a video that responds to the wants and needs of your market. They are looking for solutions to problems and questions. It’s your job to figure out how to use a video to solve issues, answer questions, provide the right solutions and lead them to the next step.