Marketing
A product or service with no customers doesn't do anybody much good. Marketing and selling your business requires a great deal of expertise in an ever changing world. Check out the resources below that can help you create a marketing plan of action.
- Small Business Administration - Information on the many dimensions of marketing, including market research, customer service, advertising, targeting, packaging, pricing, e-marketing, and others.
- Entrepreneur.com - A range of information on successful marketing and other business essentials
- Entrepreneur.com Articles - Numerous articles on developing a successful marketing plan
- SBA.gov - Helps small businesses understand their legal requirements and locate government services from federal, state and local agencies. A guide for marketing your small business.
Social Network Marketing
More than 300 million active users spend more than 8 billion minutes a day posting 45 million status updates on Facebook. Over 65 million people on Facebook and 80% of Twitter users are connecting via handhelds allowing them access to you and your company anywhere at anytime. Of the 200 million bloggers out there, 54% post content and tweet daily. Youtube.com has reached 1 billion views per day. Are you beginning to see the value of becoming part of the social marketing craze?
Not only has it proven to increase company and brand exposure, social marketing is free, fairly simple, customizable, and can be updated as much or as little as time permits.
Stats provided by Socialnomics.net and Facebook.com
The most popular social marketing sites at this time are:
- Twitter - Twitter allows users to post a micro-blog of up to 140 characters on their profile page. Other users can view your tweets by following your page. You can also start or join a conversation with other bloggers or send a direct message to another tweeter.
- Facebook - Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends or colleagues, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet. You can also create a fan page for a business or organization or send invitations to events among other things.
- LinkedIn - LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network, has over 50 million members and continues to show steady growth. LinkedIn is a place to connect with colleagues or trusted contacts and exchange knowledge and ideas.
Useful links about social network marketing:
- Social Media Marketing Industry Report - How marketers are using social media.
- Socialnomics - A Social Media Blog.
- Social Media Revolution - YouTube video on the effects of utilizing social media.
