Instagram for Business

Instagram for Business

In the era of technology, owning a business with no social media attached to market and represent yourself is a path to hardships in marketing.

The world and the economy have changed, and those who don’t follow and embrace this change are doomed to see their business fail.

There are various forms of social media lurking around in the internet. Talking about every single form of social media platform will require someone to sit down and write a 500 page book about the different social networks. Today, we focus on Instagram.

Instagram is a very popular form of social media where images are used as a form of status update. It is a different platform for sharing your brand and business to the world.

You should not just be posting random pictures on your business’ Instagram. There are certain Do’s and Don’ts that should be followed if you want to create a presence with your business.

Do’s:

• Update your feed consistently  
• Include a link to your website on your Instagram profile and let your followers know you have a link on your profile that they click on.
• Tag the location of your image. (Ex. your business address)
• Vary the composition of your uploaded images
• Be engaged with your followers on the comment section.
• Your Instagram feed is an extension of your brand
• USE HASHTAGS

Don’ts:

• Share more than 10 hashtags per post.
• Post more than 1-3xs a day ( respect your followers feed)
• Forget to add caption to your post
• Post irrelevant images that have nothing to do with your brand of business.

Instagram is an extension to the other forms of social media your business should have.

Instagram also has a sharing feature where your post on the Instagram platform can also share it on tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter.

This small step, of using Instagram, will help your business in the new era of technology.

Using the Power of the #hashtag

Using the Power of the #hashtag

Currently, the #hashtag is one of the most powerful tools around. Almost every social media platform uses it, and those who don’t will soon be adopting it into their platform.

#thepower

The power of a #hashtag will instantly link a social media post to a group of others about the same topic and will update a group of likeminded users on that topic.

For small business, having a powerful #hashtag to represent your image is important to a successful social media strategy.

A tag can help drive brand recognition. Boost the reach of an advertising campaign. And impact customer loyalty.

#thebasics

The hashtag is the pound symbol (#) renamed for a different purpose. The symbol before a keyword or phrase will categorize tweets, status updates and Instagram images. Making them show up when it is searched.

A #hashtag occurs anywhere in the tweet or status update: beginning, middle or end.

(However, a #hashtag will not appear in search if the account is on private or protected)

#bestpractices

An important rule of the #hashtag…#don’t #spam #with #hashtags! Creating this over tagging will devalue the hashtag.

Every business should develop a brand under a single #hashtag. This #hashtag will need to speak for your brand and strengthen consumer awareness.

Even though the #hashtag was created online, and everyone associates it with Twitter. Using the hashtag in public can generate giant amounts of buzz outside of the internet. When creating branding and advertising for your business such as posters, flyers or stickers. Make sure to include a #hashtag that people will be able to search on social media.

Be obvious with #hashtags!

Choose a #hashtag that is easy to remember and crystal-clear. The simpler that #hashtag the more likely will your customers and audience remember the business or brand.

Using the power of the #hashtag is a key to increasing traffic to your business. Become a presence, become memorable. Make your business unique, and beat the competition.

Marketing: Pinterest Made Easy

Marketing: Pinterest Made Easy

Marketing in Pinterest is easy.

Pinterest is a blogging website where the user pins onto boards ideas, clothes and project he or she may like.

Today, many businesses use Pinterest as a form of advertising and marketing. Pinterest has become a place for users to rack up ideas on what they want to buy. Pinterest has introduced Promoted Pins to their website. These pins will appear in users’ home feeds; they work just like regular pins, but business pay for them to show up.

If there is no budget to pay for Promoted Pins on Pinterest being active and gaining traffic is easy.

It only takes a few minutes each day to curate, and repin to Pinterest boards. To get noticed on Pinterest, you need to pin and repin regularly.

Another way to gain audience and gain traffic to your business is to follow relevant pinners. Find your niche and follow them, it is very likely your niche will follow you back. Make sure the pinners you follow are value to your Pinterest marketing.

Comment. Comment. Comment.

Become active in your niche. Become active by commenting on a pin a day. Make sure it is a pin on which you can offer input.
( Make sure your comments are pertinent and not self-promotional )

If you are able of creating your own content you will build up an audience faster than being a regular re-pinner.

Pinterest marketing is one of the most effective ways to get your business noticed and drive traffic to your business or blog.

It is not time consuming.  Just take your 20-minute Facebook break and market your business through Pinterest.

Spend a little time each day to pin, schedule and comment on the platform, as well as small pockets of time for research and image creation each week.

You will be amazed what a little time and consistent effort can do to improve your businesses traffic by using Pinterest.

Top Five Social Media Questions - What is Social Media?

How can I use Hootsuite for Social Media Management automation? 

Hootsuite is an social media automation platform that can help you reduce the time it takes to post, monitor and increase social media performance.

Hootsuite can help you manage multiple accounts and post on dozens of social media sites at the click of your mouse.

How can I capitalize on the best Social Media Strategy?

Knowing the best performing social media sites for your target industry can optimize on the use of those tools to grow your business in the most reasonable time and budget.

Which are the best Social Media Sites to start with?

LinkedIn and now Pinterest are the best tools for most businesses. Facebook for most is overrated as a social media business tool.  Twitter of course can perform well to increase the ROI of your business.

How to write a blog and where do you find readers for your blog?  

Blogger is a simple tool for creating and writing your first blog. Sharing your blog and blog postings with your social media followers is a great way to increase readers and improve the performance of your blog.

How can I convert social media followers into customers?

To convert social media follower into customer use a capture mechanism that works well with your social media sites. For example you can incorporate your Constant Contact as a tab on your Facebook page to capture leads.

To learn more follow us on this blog or go to our website below.

I wish you well and great Social Media Returns!

Manny Sarmiento - CEO
New Media, New Marketing, Inc.
http://www.newmedianewmarketing.com 

Social Bookmarking, Pinterest and Social Media Tools for Business

What is Social Media? What is Social Bookmarking? Can it Help Me Grow My Business?

Facebook is NOT a good business tool, unless you incorporate it into a valid Social Media Marketing strategy! I teach the two levels of Social Media. Level 1 being the keyword-rich content and Level-2, the share.  

If you've ever wondered how the "SEO Gurus" seem to be able to get pages to the top of a Google search? One of the tools they use is Social Media. 

As mentioned above, the first thing needed is relevant, keyword-rich, target market, valuable content. Then this Level-1 content is shared across many Level-2 Social Media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and Social Bookmarking sites such as Digg, Delicious, Reddit and StumbleUpon. 

But does this really work to build your business? The answer is yes! You are able to level the playing field and even dominate Google Search with a great Social Media Marketing strategy that includes keyword-rich Social Media Level-1 content, followed by posting such content on the Social Media Level-2 sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Digg, Delicious, Reddit and StumbleUpon, among many others.

This strategy does work to increase traffic to your website and other sites and to grow your sales and profits! As I say in my courses, it's about "Social Media Domination".  

If you are in Miami or South Florida you can take my courses in Social Media Mastery, SEO, Local Social Media, Email Marketing, WordPress and other business building courses.  Just follow some of the links below to get more information.

Manny Sarmiento - CEO

New Media, New Marketing, Inc,

http://www.newmedianewmarketing.com 

 

Google's Mobile-Friendly Test Site | Is Google Dumping Your Site Because It's NOT "Mobile-Friendly"?

Google has announced new algorithm changes that will affect websites that do not display well on mobile devices, so-called "mobile-friendly". Aka, mobilegeddon So do you need to run out and demolish your existing website and rebuild it using "mobile-friendly technology"? The answer is NO!

According to Google; "in order for a site to be considered mobile-friendly, its text has to be readable without tapping and zooming, its tap targets need to be spaced out appropriately, and the page avoids unplayable content or horizontal scrolling. In other words, the site simply needs to be easily usable from a mobile device."

Google's Mobile-Friendly Test Site

The ranking changes will not affect your desktop or tablet sites! Yes, more and more users are viewing website on their mobile devices, so with the new Google algorithm changes your non-mobile-friendly website may not be shown on a search result on mobile devices.

Google Mobile Friendly Site Mad Rush

But don't rush out to change your existing site! For sites that have been active for a while, it will cause more damage to revamp a "non-mobile-friendly site" and move it to WordPress or other "responsive", mobile-friendly platform.

What I suggest is to build a brand new website on WordPress with a keyword-rich domain name and great SEO Search Engine Optimization, on a "responsive" theme!  If you choose the right keyword-rich domain and optimize correctly you can have a website showing at the top of Google Search results within 30 days. No guarantees, of course!

WordPress' Responsive websites are easy to build and very effective for SEO Rankings. If you are in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Lakeland, Orlando, Fort Myers, Naples or other South Florida cities check our website for live, hands-on, 1-on-1, WordPress Website Design training.

Lastly, you can test whether or not Google sees your website as "mobile-friendly" on Google Webmasters Mobile-Friendly Test Site. There's also plenty if resources on the page to help you avoid getting dumped by Google!

Hope this helps!
Manny Sarmiento | President / CEO
New Media, New Marketing, Inc.
http://www.newmedianewmarketing.com

Top 5 Best Networking Events for Professionals Like You!

Many business owners and sales professionals think that they can sit behind a desk and grow their business or their sales! This is far from the truth. You've got to get out there, network and meet people. But your time is precious, so in order to optimize your networking efforts you've got to choose the right networking events.

First, let me start by telling you that most "after-hours" events are not productive for business professionals. The format of these drink, eat and be merry events are just not effective as a means of meeting potential prospects and clients. Avoid them.

Your time is better invested in the following types of networking events:

1. Morning "breakfast" networking events such as BNI meetings and chamber of commerce functions:  The latter, chamber of commerce functions, in my opinion, are better than BNI meetings. I find those way too structured and costly. But if it works for you, go for it!
2. Dynamic and well attended Toastmasters Meetings: I host a Toastmasters chapter here in Doral and this chapter is dynamic and full of professionals. You'll be able to practice public speaking too, while you meet and network with some of most rounded professionals on the planet!
3. Seminars and Workshops attended by your target market: Every event, workshop, class, seminar or lecture is a networking opportunity! You'll meet some of the brightest and most interesting professionals while feeding your mind with very interesting topics. This is definitely time well invested.
4. Your own information-filled seminar directed to your target market. Putting on your own seminars, workshops or lectures that educate and motivate your target market is an idea of the New Marketing era! Educate, don't sell! Your goal is to give such a great seminar the attendees will ask you how it's possible to work with you. You'll be surprised at the results!
5. Speed Networking Events: They are fun, fast, very effective and efficient marketing tools for business professionals. In a well-planned and organized Speed Networking event you will meet from 10 to 50 people ready, willing and able to hear your marketing message since you are only their for one reason; to talk about your business in two and a half minutes or less! Check list link often if you live in Miami for the next Speed Networking at the Speed of Business Event!

Your time is valuable, so use it wisely. Stop the after-hours drinking events that are so called "networking events". By dedicating your time to effective networking platforms you will break the ice faster, establish more relationships and increase the return on investment of your time and energy! 

I hope this help! 

Best Regards,  Manny Sarmiento

CEO - New Media, New Marketing, Inc. 

http://www.newmedianewmarketing.com 

manny@nmx2.com 

Using Microsites to Get to Page One of Google, Bing and Yahoo Search

Getting to the first page of Google is not difficult but it's not guaranteed. No one can promise you number one on Google and actually fulfill that promise! Read my previous blog posting: "Don't Pay for SEO Services! What You Really Need to Know about SEO!

It can sometimes be challenging to get to the first page of Google and other search engines, and we all know that very few people will browse past the first page of search results! You try and try again and nothing seems to work. What else is there to do? How can you get your business found when someone searches Google? Try micro-sites!

I sometimes refer to Google results, or lack there of, as "mysteries of the Google Universe". So, if you are having a challenge getting to the top of Google search results, how about building a website that is specifically SEO optimized for a specific niche of your business? Here is an example:

A realtor in Miami has a website built for him by his broker. With 28,000+ realtors in Miami, how easy do you think it would be to get his website to the top of the Google, Bing or Yahoo search results? Very difficult! Unless the realtor builds a website broken down and keyword (SEO) optimized for the following:

Real Estate > Homes > Homes in Miami > Homes in Doral > Luxury Homes in Doral > Foreclosed Luxury Homes in Doral > Foreclosed Luxury Town Homes in Doral

At the time of my writing the domain www.foreclosedluxurytownhomesdoral.com was available for purchase at: www.1and1.com . The next step is to run a keyword research on Google Adwords, install WordPress and create a five page microsite, optimized for those keywords and containing a correctly created and submitted sitemap.xml file.

All this may seem daunting but it's really not! Creating websites with WordPress is easy! WordPress websites are very powerful for Search Engine Optimization because of it's SEO and other plugins. I teach hands-on classes in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and other Florida cities. www.WordPressTrainingandClasses.com .  

Building micro-sites is a powerful strategy that can get you to the top of the search engines. Along with a real Social Media Marketing strategy, you can drive more traffic to your site, increase your clientel and your profits! 

I wish you Great Success! 
Manny Sarmiento - CEO 
New Media, New Marketing, Inc. 

Resources:
http://www.wordpresstrainingandclasses.com - WordPress Training in Florida
http://www.doralchamber.org/search-engine-optimization-diy-seotm-seminar/ - SEO Seminar
http://www.1and1.com/?kwk=150221549 

Don't Pay for SEO Services! What You really Need to Know about SEO!

Lie #1 - Guaranteed #1 Ranking on Google

The SEO Truth - Very few SEO so-called "experts" can get you to number one on Google. So here is the challenge you can give them: Get me number one on Google then I will pay you. None of the SEO guys will take the challenge because they know they can't do it!

Lie #2 - You Need to Pay for Monthly SEO Services

The SEO Truth - Unless you are a trending type of business such as entertainment, you don't need to optimize on a monthly basis! There's not much the SEO "experts" can do on a monthly basis to get you to the top of Google. But here's the good news; you can get great results your self.

Lie #3 - You Can't Do SEO Yourself! 

The SEO Truth - SEO is actually very simple. There are a few, very simple techniques to optimizing your website and creating a viable and practical SEO strategy. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to get results. Google has a series of tools to help you optimize your pages and get to the top of Google.

Lie #4 - Google Updates will Hurt Your Website Rankings

The SEO Truth - Yes, Google is constantly upgrading their algorithm but if your website is Real, Keyword-Rich, Relevant, Homogenous and properly optimized then you can get great Google search results.

The bottom line is that you must be careful if you are considering hiring an "SEO Expert" since most can't fulfill what they promise. My suggestion is to you reach out to Google via their Webmaster Tools at http://www.google.com/webmasters where you will find plenty of real information on Search Engine Optimization SEO. 

Learning What is SEO from the Source

Google also has a YouTube channel: Google Webmaster Help. Make sure that you only get your SEO knowledge directly from the source - Google! Well, except from me, of course! I teach a three and a half hour SEO Search Engine Optimization course once a month in Miami. I cut out the nitty-gritty and give you the REAL Truth about as SEO in a practical manner that you can use to DIY your SEO or at least know what to look for when you hire someone to optimize your website. SEO Search Engine Optimization Course Miami. 

Please Tell me About Your SEO Nightmares

I'd love to hear about your experiences with the "SEO Experts". Your comments will help others avoid the SEO trap and save money, time and trouble! 

Hope to hear from you soon!

Manny Sarmiento - CEO / President
New Media, New Marketing, Inc.
http://www.newmedianewmarketing.com 
http://www.doralchamber.org/search-engine-optimization-diy-seotm-seminar/ 

P.S. The main reason for writing this blog is to save you money, time and agravation! I hope that it rescues you from SEO hell!