But Twitter is something different. Twitter is more than just a social networking website. With the twitter, you can do a lot many things. Although, you can find some promotion and marketing tools available in Facebook and MySpace also, but in Twitter, there is a separate superior powerhouse of promotion and marketing. Twitter is, undoubtedly, a very low-cost (and sometimes free) advertising, marketing, and the promotional tools available at the web.

Near about 20 million new users have approached Twitter in the May, June month of the year 2009. While Twitter is also a social networking website but the interface of Twitter is designed in such a efficient way so that marketing of a particular product or service can be done very effectively. That is why, everyone from small companies to big corporate giants, everyone is utilizing Twitter for their advertising and marketing needs. If you are a new guy on Twitter, then the following tips can help you:

The necessary tools for beginners-:

· A basic knowledge of marketing, advertising especially in social networking environment.

· Of course, a free Twitter account.

· Your website with monetization and the referral -based program links.

The last two things are very simple, and probably you were already having these. Although in terms of getting the basic knowledge of marketing and advertising, you can search these topics over the Internet and get yourself educated. Your success in terms of advertising your product or services in the environment of social networking is only dependent upon your hard work and knowledge.

1.You should not market yourself on Twitter:-

Most probably, this is the easiest way to learn the correct strategy of Twitter marketing. You must understand that your Twitter account should not be used as a digital billboard. I agree, some individuals may get away with it — these beginners just keep posting the tweets after tweets of the links of the services or products they are promoting or advertising here. And literally by doing this, Twitter can identify them as a spammer and can block the account. You should remember that Twitter is basically made for social networking and not for advertising and marketing. Twitter if about your personal relationship with the users (followers) which are following you.

2.What is in demand?:-

There is no doubt that you will fail or will not achieve the desired success, if you are promoting the product or services which are not in demand by your followers. Your efforts are waste, if you are promoting the product or services for which your followers are not ready to pay.

3.Quantity versus quality:-

It is really not very difficult to get hundred, or even thousands of followers on Twitter. If you are using the correct script then you can probably achieve a few hundred Twitter followers with a day. But, in social networking websites like to turn it is not about the number of followers it is about your relationship with your followers and the potential followers. Ultimately, your followers should be able to pay for the product or service if you are advertising. And that is why you are on Twitter.

It may not be too hard to argue that the social networking marketing will hit out strongly in the years to come as the best strategy of marketing a product or service. We have heard social networking sites used to promote campaign for the candidacy of Barrack Obama. It has now become the norm in some countries for candidates seeking political posts to get popularized through social networking site in following Obama example.

A good number of musicians and motivational speakers are also using social networking sites to promote their music and motivational talks respectively.

Social media networking has created what is now called online citizens. These citizens are living in a sort of free world that does not require state initiated restrictions.

There are a number of web tools that have come up to support the social media networking or the idea of making ‘online friends’.

To understand how real the tools are, it is necessary to take time to view the operations of such sites as facebook, twitter, pownce, Digg, StumbleUpon  reddit, goodreads, Big Think MyBlogLog, Technorati, Bitstrips, MySpace, Flickr and Zooomr.

These online friends’ sites can assist one in accomplishing different objectives. If for instance, you want a network with fellow bloggers, MyBlogLog will help you in a big way.

Similarly, if your goal is to network with old and new friends, facebook can greatly assist. MySpace could be more appealing to someone wishing to promote products and services as they are sharing personal information. For those having fun moments sharing cartoons, Bitstrips can assist in networking with the like-minded.

For a small business that has limited budget in marketing, focusing on social media marketing as marketing tool can bring out the best result in the current world setting. If you have a big online network, promoting a product by a word of mouth can really grow the market significantly as people are getting more and more tired of advertisements of untested products and services.

We have heard of the facebook waves destroying companies and Saccos in some countries.

There is a tendency of social revolutions going to be witnessed via the social networking sites. Friends are getting closer and closer. Old friends are meeting again to form investment clubs and social gatherings are now conducted via facebook.

The facebook is now receiving intense competition from other competitors like Tagged, LinkedIn, twiter, etc
Since the internet is now the preferred route of advertising in some countries, the medium of advertising will also change.

Facebook, as the prime social networking site in the market will continue receiving the advertisers’ attention.
A lot more people are embracing networking on the facebook. People with families in the Diaspora are using the facebook as their preferred social networking site.

Facebook will not be ignored in the spheres of business in the coming years.

Digital publishing is also becoming preferred in place of the newspapers. What that means is that in the coming years people will be finding it easy to read online literature, meaning that they will be more in the internet.

Most users of the internet may find it easy to have a minute off to chat with a friend or invite a lost friend to the social network. What that means is that more advertisers will move in to target the facebook citizens.

The recent witnessed popularity of the facebook especially with the youthful population is suggesting that the social networking site will be a big hit in future.

There is a great danger looming for the traditional advertising offline channels like the newspapers, radio, television, posters and such like.

This form of marketing is gaining popularity in Africa and the western World. That actually calls for every marketing executive to play the cards properly so that those particular avenues will work for the benefit of the company. Social media relies heavily on the great popularity of the social networking sites as has been witnessed in many countries today.

It is said that in some countries, one out of every five users of the internet is linked in a social networking site somewhere.

The popular networking sites include the facebook, twitter, tagged, flixter, etc.
What that means is that the sites are soon going to be bases for advertisements that are promoting a kind of campaign.

We have had several political, social and religious campaigns being conducted on the platforms of the facebook. The same case is evident in other social networking sites.

The networking site, called, Flixter can not be ignored by a serious company in entertainment interested in increasing sales of the movies.

Some colleges in third world countries have to advertise on the forum of facebook because a lot of colleges going young people are visiting the social networking site in big numbers.

We expect that in the years to come, the generation that is using these tools now with great enthusiasm will continue leading the much younger ones to continue doing the same. The advertisers will start focusing on the market very seriously. Since it is going to be world over, the international market will be flooded with more and more international advertising packages. Social media marketing is the way to go.

The social networking site caught people in a very big way, especially at the height of the Obama’s campaign for the white house. What started off as an initiative for the students in Harvard is now getting serious attention all over the world.

In fact, the concept of the facebook has given room to the development of the other networking sites. But still, even on the height of great competition, the facebook has continued getting higher up in the social networking market share.

The features of the facebook are easy to comprehend. The facebook’s simplicity and magic of trying to match people, in an ordinary way has really left the people mesmerized world over. Several factors can be highlighted to attribute to the success of the facebook.

Simple to operate features

Most users of the facebook do not actually require such complicated settings. In fact, they can do with the simple chat, message box, wall, sign in and sign out.

It is able to match friends based on school, college and employment history

The three above are actually the most common social settings that an individual can have. The facebook makes it all easy to connect unlike the other social networking sites

Its popularity makes it a preferred choice

One would actually want to connect with as many friends as possible. The facebook, owing to its popularity, will make you connect with more people than any other social networking sites.

It has a simple and attractive set design

The facebook has a design that is attractive, and navigation on the site is easy. This makes it very easy to use. You may not need to teach somebody a lot because its mechanism is easy to understand.

]]> http://virtualassistanceservice.com/2009/05/reasons-behind-the-popularity-of-the-facebook/feed/ 0 http://virtualassistanceservice.com/2009/05/top-three-reasons-to-outsource-your-website-design-and-maintenance/ http://virtualassistanceservice.com/2009/05/top-three-reasons-to-outsource-your-website-design-and-maintenance/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 08:12:59 +0000 Jordan http://virtualassistanceservice.com/?p=71 Are you torn between whether you should outsource your website design and maintenance or just do it yourself? While you may feel fairly confident at handling it yourself there are still a few reasons why you may want to outsource the responsibility to someone else, here are the top three.

You are a business owner

One of the first things you need to realize is that you are a business owner first and a web designer second. A business requires you to take on a heavy load of responsibilities that include accounting, investing, record keeping, decisions, production, expansion etc. In the face of this large load do you really want to add the responsibilities that come with a website to it?

Professionalism and branding

Professionals usually take care of web design because they know what attracts people’s eyes and what will keep them glued to a website. Even if you think you have a basic idea you are not aware of the market demands and trends in the same way as a professional. Thus, why waste your time with a failry passable website when you can have a highly efficient and attractive website?

Time investment

Finally, while you can complete web design for a basic site you will need to spend time updating it on a regular basis and marketing it to the Internet audience. This is a very time consuming progress that never ends, so it may be best to let someone else make the time investment so that you do not get overwhelmed because website maintenance is a task that never ends.

Why? Because the mobile community no longer stops long enough to read through mailers or sometimes even through their daily newspaper. Since it is all available on their cell phone there is no need to stop while on the go so you have to find a new way to reach them, and that answer is social networking.

Almost all smartphones have apps that provide immediate access to social groups such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and many more social networks. What’s more, mobile users are the largest growing population of the traffic that visits these websites daily. Thus, if you get your business linked into a social network you have an immediate way to reach consumers you may otherwise never have the opportunity to target.

Just think about, if it’s a Saturday and you own a restaurant send out the lunch specials in the morning and by the afternoon your consumer base will know that you have a special. What is more, they are most likely out of their homes and in the position to take the bite and stop by. The options are limitless and mobile communities are growing now; so start cashing in or get left out in the dark!

Website maintenance- Spending your valuable trying to keep your website up to par when you should be working on your business can cost you major potential revenues, which is why you should consider hiring an assistant to take care of your website for you. There are many virtual assistants who can handle this task for you at little cost and without any additional employee costs.

Internet marketing- There is a plethora of ways to advertise online that will cost much less than print or media advertising. Social networks cost very little to join and can expand your consumer base by hundreds to thousands of people. If you do not want to spend your time networking your business you can also hire a virtual assistant skilled to handle your networking needs for you.

SEO marketing- If you have a company website your goal should be increasing your traffic so that you reach as many potential consumers as possible. SEO optimization is complex and very time consuming, but there are many companies who handle SEO duties for you so that you can concentrate on the business aspect of your website while your rank and traffic ski rockets.

If you own a small business Twitter can be an easy, quick, and cheap way to let your customers know that you are open to business and have many great offers heading their way. Plus, since most people access Twitter via their cell phones you have immediate access to most of your consumers which means you may see many of them stop by if you target your twitter messages for the weekends when you know people are already out spending their money from their paychecks.

Need a better reason to join Twitter to advertise? Well according to ABC, Twitter is read more often than any other news organization in the USA surpassing the Wall Street Journal and New York Times last month. Thus, while a regular small business may not be able to afford a New York Times advertisement, you can spend less and reach the same size audience on Twitter.

Additionally, the population of Twitter visitors is only going to soar as Nightline on ABC is going to release a web show component called ‘NightTline with Twitter’ so now is the time to act!

IN the past, Facebook has caused the murder of a woman when her entangled husband found her ‘single status, has been used to stalk young children, caused people to lose their jobs, and caught crooks who advertise their stolen goods online. However, Facebook has a new problem to add to the list: questionable groups where the morality is in question.

Just a few days ago Facebook announced its decision to remove two Holocaust groups from their online social network that were founded for people who are revisionists. In other words, a group for people who believe the Holocaust is political propaganda and never existed.

Facebook stated the groups were removed in order to pacify members that were alarmed and upset by the implications of believing to a website that would allow this type of conversation to flourish. On the other hand, groups that advocate freedom of speech claim regardless of the backlash, people have the right to form their own groups and opinions.

Thus, Facebook is once again thrown into the limelight as how much social accountability the creators should hold is once again the subject of debate. For those who market businesses on Facebook, the question is one worth pondering because by advertising on Facebook your business can be affected by association if your supporters are unhappy with Facebook decisions or stigma.