10 Tips to Optimize Your Local Business Using Facebook

Social Media nowadays is not just limited to connecting with friends or acquaintances, sharing pictures or life updates. It has become a platform for business marketing as well, both in the global as well as the local field.

Facebook, as we all know, is the king of social networks. It is a good place to reach out to clients and build your brand online. The said social network provides much different functionality in which SEO analyst; web developers and marketers can use to get their business noticed online.

In this article we will be focusing on how you can optimize your local business' online presence with the use of Facebook.

10 Tips To Optimize Your Local Business Using Facebook

• A Good Page Name -It is best to have the name of your business as your page name in Facebook. This will help maintain a consistent identity of your brand and search engines can associate your Facebook page with your business. If you have establishments located in different areas, you can create a page with your business name plus the location, such as: Joe's Diner - Los Angeles.

• Inject Keywords in About Section - There is no need to be an expert web developer in order to get this done. Writing something for the "About" page is quite manageable. Insert keywords, essential business details as well as local address and phone number in the information section of your Facebook page, as this can help in the optimization for search engines. However, always remember to not overstuff it with keywords and keep in mind the proper keyword density, as this will gain high ranking in SERPs.

• Customize Facebook URL - As soon as you get certain numbers of Likes in Facebook, you will be able to make a custom URL for your page. It is best to still use your keywords, company or business name to add into the URL - as this will help in sharing your social profile easily and put a signal to search engines to associate the page with your product brand and services.

• Become a Fan - Use your local business page to become a fan of related local pages in Facebook, however, keep away from competitors. Liking a related local business page will enable you to interact and post comments on their updates, which gives you more exposure to the target audience.

• Target Locations with Status Updates - This is a good function to promote your brand products or services in a certain location. This will allow your status updates only to appear to people in specific locations. You can set this by clicking the dropdown arrow under your status box and change "Public" to Location/Language where you can specify a particular country, city or state.

• Offsite Page Links - Link to your Facebook page from your official blog or business website. This increases the value of your Facebook page in search engines and connects your brand with its social network outlets in the web. You can also consider spending some time commenting or posting to blogs or forums including a link to your page to maximize the backlinks.

• Content With Snippets - Turn your Facebook page into a hub of information where people get relevant answers to their needs in relation to the products or services that your business offers. You can post snippets of articles or lines with keywords from your official local business website then the link towards the page. This will serve as another inbound link strategy that helps in increasing your online presence.

• Add Images - Since Facebook implemented its Timeline version, posted pictures are the first things to capture the attention of many. As such, businesses took this advantage to promote their brands and services. Hence, it is recommended to put a cover photo that depicts the story of your local brand and tells the customers what it is all about. You can also add some graphics and images into your status updates as this will result in more "Likes".

• Regular Content Update - Unique, relevant and interesting content has always been an important factor in SEO. It can add value to your Facebook page. A page update highlights fun and informative contents that drive likes to your page. You can also reward you page fans special discounts on your products or host contests in your local page. This will give followers the idea that you have an active page and increase the value of your SEO efforts.

• Facebook Ads - This is an affordable way in promoting your brand to your target customers in a specific country, city, state, region, and etc. Facebook gives you the capability of serving ads only in a targeted geographical area, you will also know how many people are likely to see your ads, use images, and show up in a user's Facebook News feeds once they click "Like".

These are just some of the countless tips out there for optimizing Facebook pages for your local business. And as with all global or local SEO strategies, never expect increase in conversion to happen immediately, as everything takes time to see the change in results.

However, giving constant reliable and quality content in your page is not rocket science; all you need to keep in mind is what your clients and future customers want and need from a local business, and make sure that you cater to them effectively.

Hi! I'm Jollie Garado and I'm interested in writing about technology and SEO - outsourcing, link building or outsource web development to improve your small business.

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

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Branding - How Do YOU Appear on Facebook?

www.mightymofaz.com

Late to the party, many small and medium size businesses are discovering Facebook as a tool for promoting and branding themselves. In the past few years, the term "branding" has been a hot business topic, created by the media hype around advertising using social media. But I never fully understood the term "branding", its implications and the practise, until I started actively participating, reading and writing on my Facebook timeline.

My main reason for exposing myself to the world of Facebook, was simply to understand how it works. I wanted to see if there was merit in using Facebook, as over a billion users worldwide were doing. Whether I connected with my classmates from 30+ years ago or not, was furthest from my mind. What I did discover was that not only is Facebook a powerful branding tool for business but how individuals are unwittingly using it to create a personal brand that may come back to haunt them.

There was much that I didn't know about Facebook. But by "LIKE-ing" a few people I knew, a few more from my club and hometown classmates, I began to build a repertoire of scrolling real time news. It wasn't more than a year of regular weekly readings, that the light finally came on for me. Clear as day, I realized how several of my "friends" have casted, stereotyped, say "branded" themselves, and NOT in a good way. I saw a pattern from their postings, that I could have easily used to describe or introduce them, if I was ever asked. I began to label and think of them, specifically by how frequently and what they posted on their timeline. They have managed to "brand" themselves.

I began to detect a consistent pattern with many. Is that how I want to be described or thought of? There was the person that would post just family pics of events with their grand kids. This is commendable, but maybe in a closed family Facebook sub-page; not your general friends list. There was the person who posted pictures that made me wonder, "What am I missing here? Why is this picture being broadcast? It's just a picture!" All it proved was that they knew how to take a picture and how to post to Facebook. Nice, I thought. They have a heartbeat. There was the friend who spoke of deep inner feelings. Sure; just thinking out loud perhaps, but maybe don't be posting into words. People will sense you are emotionally unstable and incapable of dealing with everyday life. Then there was the world traveller that would post pictures daily from across the globe. Obviously not current and just drawing from years past vacations. Then there was the person who posts 10 times per day. Well, that person clearly does not have a life and needs constant attention. Some may come across as activists. That's when I discovered I can UN-follow these while still leaving them in my friends list. And believe me, I did.

So before you write on your timeline, and then click POST, ask yourself the following 3 questions.

1) What is the purpose of my post?

Are you hoping to inspire, inform, motivate, instigate or call-to-action someone? Are you sharing an experience with a picture hoping to get some feedback from others? Or are you just blowing off some steam, perhaps getting onto a soapbox and ranting about an incident that happened to you? Are you hoping for support or sympathy? If you are writing in the "heat of the moment" and saturated with emotion such as anger or vindictiveness, then close your laptop and go for a good walk or other physical activity. Yes, writing can very good therapy, so continue writing, but do so in your personal journal, not your Facebook timeline. No one is interested in reading your thoughts repeatedly.

2) Am I comfortable with others repeating my comments attached to my name?

This is more inline with the "gossip session" or water cooler talk, when others may talk about you behind your back. We can't control gossip about us, so make sure it is gossip you are comfortable having proliferate about you. Hearing your comments in the third person may make the hairs on the back of your neck standup.

3) If this was my last post, would I want to be remembered by it?

Think legacy. What do you want to leave behind for others or society in general? In what light would you like others to talk about you?

I know I said 3, but here is the bonus question;

4) Is there any value to my post?

Sometimes we get carried away and when others look at our post, they ask themselves, "So what? Why are you telling me this?" This is more along the lines of the "What's in it for me?" question. If not, then write your post so it will be of value to others.

Today, more than ever, most people reading something are looking for specifics that will bring them value, knowledge or absolute riches. They just don't want to be an audience, giving their precious time to you, the aspiring author who is going to write the next best seller which will turn into the #1 movie of the year. If not, then your post is simply "noise" and your contacts may not only "un-follow" but also remove you as a friend completely.

Remember, when you are posting on Facebook, you are talking to the world. Statements will never be retracted or deleted. Your post may even proliferate and haunt you with someone reposting on other social media. Even if deleted, people who have already read your post may remember you by that lasting impression you gave them. People can make their minds up about you very quickly and can stereotype you as an activist, anti-whatever and just plain dangerous to have around. Don't place yourself in the "court of public opinion". Also, some potential employers hire social media consultants to compile a social media profile of you. Seeing pictures of you volunteering your time with a worthy charity in a developing country is a good thing. But pictures of you getting blasted at the bar on the week-ends, well, not so much.

Facebook is a powerful social media tool. It levels the playing field between a lowly individual and a multi-million dollar company. Done right, you can project as good as the big companies. Use it to showcase your strengths, ambitions and accomplishments. Use it to inspire and summon others to their cause. Use it to stay connected. Use it to develop and advertise "your brand". I hope my experience with Facebook and tips above will help you "brand" yourself in the best possible light. As a test, you can connect with me on Facebook and practise what I shared above.

Terry is a freelance speaker, writer and the principle content creator and currator (CCC) at TDKtalks.com

His video, audio and written content is disseminated through his website, Slideshare, iTunes, and Ezine Articles.

Terry, a dynamic speaker who listens to his audience, is personable, energetic and passionate about connecting with people. His presentations can be thought provoking, motivating, inspiring or just entertaining.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8881934

Important Tips to Improve Your Social Media Marketing Efforts

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social Media Marketing is a way of attracting the viewers who are using social network sites and making them share the content through it. This increases the web traffic and gains attention of the users. Through sharing, it helps in improving relationships of the client's organization with individuals or even among organizations. In current scenario, It accounts for around 75% of entire business in the world.

Current trend in Social Media Marketing

Twitter and Facebook currently dominate the World of Social Media Marketing. However, there are other sites or networks that perform well in this field including YouTube, Google+, LinkedIn, Blogs and Foursquare. The marketers also should have a close watch on fast performing networks like Vine, Instagram, where it uses mobile marketing and are soon to occupy top slot.

So are there any threats and Challenges waiting for Social Media Marketing?

Definitely, while the marketers are engaged in posting content through it,one has to be very careful of what has to be published. In most of the organizations, the employees are tempted to post comments on whatever they are aware of. This results in publishing confidential data to the public and increased exposure to litigation. Companies like McDonald's, Chrysler have underwent these incidents and caused them fear.

So, keeping all these in mind, this article provides some tips to improve Social Media Marketing

Tips to improve Social Media Marketing

Just by posting in social networks attracting the viewers are merely impossible. So how can we do it? Here are the 8 steps to improve them in a successful way.

*Pictures all the way - Definitely, nowadays people find it hard to read boring texts all the way. They want everything to be attractive. So, addition of relevant pictures with appropriate content gives a pleasant feel to the viewers. To make it further attractive, it can be made in the form of slides

*What about an audio? - Yes, sure you can. This is the simplest way to convey the message and easy to reach every one. So add audio wherever required.

*I got a Pin!!! - If you want people to share your pictures with others and convey your message, then definitely you have to use Pin.

*Add questionnaire - Questionnaire is the best way to know viewers' interest. This can be added in social networking sites, particularly in Facebook.

*Reviews please - After doing all these, you definitely cannot predict whether what you did is successful or not. Adding reviews will tell exactly how good your content is.

*Use Vine and YouTube - Show viewers proper videos. Incorporate them to view your clips in vine and YouTube. Along with this, GIFs can be added as it occupies less space.

*Don't Force - Do not post/share the same content again and again to a particular set of people. If they don't like it, leave it. Don't force them to view.

*Promote offers using social Media - Offers are the best way to stimulate the person's wishes to visit your link. Adding URL along with this will help to access the company's web page so that reputation gets increased.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8911202