When in Rome...

Does anyone else ever feel overwhelmed by the massive amount of opportunities there are online for free or cheap marketing? These sites are free in the sense that they don't cost money, but they can zap your time. I believe that many of the social networking sites are useful --when used correctly and for the right reasons. It's just like when every company thought they had to have their product on television to get anyone to notice it. Not true. If you are just jumping on the bandwagon because everyone else seems to be and you don't want to get left in the dust, take a step back and think about whether or not the people you are trying to reach can even be found on a site like Facebook or Twitter. Maybe they are on MySpace -- people have preferences and prejudices regarding these sites.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a strong advocate for online networking, but it seems like everyone is everywhere, with no real strategy. Maybe you're trying to get the attention of the 20-something crowd to come into your new salon -- Google AdWords might be the best. Or maybe you should be going with an old-school newsletter -- on actual "paper" if you want to tell local businesses about a sale you're having at the end of the week or a new service you're offering. Figure out where your time and money is best spent, and go from there.

Erin Pankowski
Marketing Manager
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

Link Baiting -- We've Been Hooked!

As you’re aware, we’ve recently jumped head-first into the world of online networking, and we are seeing vast benefits from it already in the first few weeks. The number of unique visitors to our site has way more than doubled daily, as well as the reach of our message. According to Alexa.com, the number of visitors our site receives has gone up 400% since March 31 of this year. We attribute this jump in visitors to our presence on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as Google AdWords, and our own blog. We’ve been able to spread our message further, and we would like to help our clients do the same.

With that in mind, here’s another great way to drive traffic to your website: "link baiting." The strength of the links you have connected to your site will determine how high Google’s search engine algorithm will rank it. Your rank is also determined by the number of visitors your site receives, and the way the site is designed and written.

Link baiting is not a quick process – it involves things such as getting businesses and organizations to put a link on their site for you, without necessarily returning the favor. It takes time for the search engines to crawl through websites and register the new links. In the long term, however, the benefits will float to the surface, and we know your page ranking will as well.

Erin Pankowski
Marketing Manager
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

David DeFord's Take on Social Networking

David DeFord, President of Ordinary People Can Win Publishing
Company, and Author of I Wish to be Useful: A Guide for a More Meaningful Life

I've seen a recent upturn in sales of my books on Amazon and on my own website.
I attribute the increased sales to my Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn strategy.

Rather than tell every one of my Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections, and Twitter followers when I go to the bathroom or what I'm having for dinner, I keep it professional. Here are a few things I've been doing:
1. Posting motivational quotes that relate to my books
2. Telling everyone when I post a new episode of my podcast, I Wish to Be Useful, on iTunes.

These actions keep me on their minds in a positive light, and prompt some of them to check my podcast.

We’ve recently delved into the social networking world ourselves here at Concierge Marketing – and that’s just what it is – another world. There are so many aspects to social networking, but the good thing is that everything you post can be connected. That’s the trick; to get all of the parts to function as one creature and get your message out there to the right people.

For instance, when we post a new blog entry, we include a link on Twitter to let people know, so that hopefully they’ll click on the link to read it. Or if we find an article we think our friends and followers online would be interested in, we link to it. We are trying to drive traffic to our sites to give ourselves more name recognition, and also to better associate ourselves with others in our field.

Information is found and disseminated so quickly, it’s important to keep your message at the forefront of your tweets, Facebook posts, etc…Otherwise you’ll just get passed up for the next best thing. That’s something I’ve mentioned before, relevancy. So again, make sure that the things you are posting will be of value to potential or current customers.

Erin Pankowski
Marketing Manager
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services

First, a Thought from Tom Becka on Social Networking

“I think social networking is just another tool in the arsenal. With a Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or LinkedIn account, you can be in control of your message and help generate sales. The trick is to branch out and generate new leads and new "friends" But with some work, you can have a site that will be a resource and keep reminding people about your product. You won't sell a million books off these sites but combined with all your other media it definitely helps.”

Social networking is a buzz word right now, and has been for awhile. I hear about Facebook and LinkedIn several times a day from different media outlets – local and national. Everyone is trying to get you to visit their page, some for personal reasons, and others for business.

It’s important to keep your content relevant for your audience, so that the right people will be interested in reading what you have to say. It’s also important to keep business and personal networking sites separate. Not everyone cares that you went out and had a few drinks Friday night. It’s not a bad idea to have separate pages for both, and different friends to go along with those pages.

If you do these things, you’ll keep yourself from getting into sticky situations between work and play, and you may find that you have new followers by keeping the content relevant.

Erin Pankowski
Marketing Manager
Concierge Marketing
and Publishing Services