Earlier in this blog post series, we talked about how each social network is just a little bit different and our approach to each one should be carefully crafted. At the time, I cautioned against simply using social media integration tools to broadcast the same thing across your social networks. I stand by that advice wholeheartedly, but there are still plenty of useful tools you can use to streamline your social networking process.

Here are 3 types of tools that are worth checking out:

#1 Integrating and Managing Your Streams: Social Networking with Hootsuite.com

Hootsuite creates an easy-access dashboard for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and more.

By connecting your accounts, you can view all your social networking streams in one places, instead of logging into each site individually. It also allows you to schedule posts to publish at specific times that you choose.

Hootsuite provides some analytics, but many of the features are available with a Pro account and can get quite expensive. Depending on how much you use Hootsuite, this may or may not be worth it. A Pro account is also useful if you have more than 5 profiles to manage and/or you have a number of members on your social networking team.

Other similar tools in the marketplace include SproutSocial.com and Tweetdeck.com.

#2 Getting Your Analytics: Social Networking with Twentyfeet.com

TwentyFeet provides you with a dashboard of social networking analytics for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more. It also can bring in your analytics for bit.ly, if you happen to use that as a link shortening service. They actually call it an “gotracking service” but itss more meaningful than something like Klout, which reduces social networking into a popularity contest.

The site allows you to compare the analytics from various sites to see where you might increase or adjust your efforts. The service also notifies you whenever something noteworthy happens in your accounts.

A basic account with one Facebook account (not Page) and one Twitter account are free. There are monthly fees if you want to add anything from there, but the cost of analytics is more affordable than provided with Hootsuite.com.

If you´re looking for something more in-depth, but more expensive, you can look at a service like Trackur.com. Or if you´d like to track where people are talking about you and your brand, do a free search at SocialMention.com. At this site, they´ll give you an idea of the sentiment in the mentions.

#3 Timing Your Posts: Social Networking with TweetWhen.com and Tweriod.com

There´s something to be said about finding the optimal time to participate in social networking. After all, you want to ensure you reach the biggest percentage of your targeted audience as possible, right? While, there are plenty of studies out there to help you find the optimal time, it always depends on your own unique audience, so you have to analyze things yourself.

A couple of tools that might help you include TweetWhen and Tweriod.

TweetWhen analyzes your audience for you and gives you an optimal time to tweet, based on when you are most likely to get the best response. Because you don´t have to log into your account to use this service, you can also use it to gain intelligence on the best times for other Twitter users like your competition and other likeminded tweeters. However, it´s important to realize that TweetWhen´s data is based on when you´re actually tweeting, so if you tweet more at certain dates and times, these are more likely to be favored in the results.

Tweriod is a service that looks at the activity of your followers to determine your best time to tweet. The logic is, you should be more active when theyíre active. Taking the data from TweetWhen and Tweroid together can help you figure out ways to adjust your participation in Twitter for best results.

Technology is out there to help us and you can certainly use it to your advantage to make it easier and more efficient to participate in social media…without looking like some kind of bot that is just auto-broadcasting everything. Find the right tools for you and it will be much easier for you to manage your social media participation.

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Pedro de Lemos
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While many businesses work with social media to grow their target market audience, there is so much opportunity to meet with and connect with other business owners. You can share advice, find service providers, promote one another´s content, connect each other to resources and other people. In short, if you´ve got friends, you´ll go far.

Always take the time to create and nurture these relationships when participating in social media. A few things you can do:

- Join a group or a forum to meet like minded business owners. Facebook and LinkedIn have the opportunity to create and join groups, but good old fashioned message boards are a great social connector as well. And yes, forums are the original social networks, so they´re included.

- Help others first, before expecting anything in return. Offer advice, provide content, ask if you can record a webinar and do all the work. Fellow business owners are so busy and it makes it difficult to cut through the noise to make a meaningful connection, but by first offering to help someone, it’s easier to grab attention.

- Take it offline and connect with people directly, not just through status updates. Check out sites like Meetup.com, create your own meet up or attend seminars and other business events. There is nothing like cementing a connection by meeting face to face.

- Take another look at LinkedIn. Since LinkedIn is a network of professionals, it’s one of the best venues to make B2B connections. It´s a network that can help you find service providers and joint venture partners. You can get answers to your business questions, share your own business expertise and more.

Remember Your Audience

Just a word of warning when B2B networking. It´s important to keep your audience in mind when broadcasting on your social networks. Your customers may not be interested in business topics, but your B2B connections are.

For example, on Google+, use the Circles feature to identify and communicate with your B2B contacts.

On Facebook, you can separate contacts into Lists, so you only broadcast status updates to certain individuals. Always be mindful of this, so your information is targeted to the right audience.

And again, join specific groups and forums for your business connections. These will allow you to speak more freely and stay on target with what the audience wants to hear.

Being Approachable

Not only do you want to actively seek out new people to connect with, you also want it easy for people to approach you. You can ensure you´re approachable in a few ways, including:

- Have a detailed profile that shows what you are interested in. This is particularly important on professional networks like LinkedIn and forums.

- Respond to messages directly and in a timely manner. Donít get so big for your britches that you think you can simply ignore people.

- Participate in discussions other people are having. Share your thoughts, ideas and be generally helpful. Helpfulness makes you much more approachable.

Trying to run a business completely on your own is doing it the hard way. There are so many opportunities to meet and mutually benefit from relationships with other business owners. Whether you´re looking for a graphic artist, can´t figure out what´s wrong with your web code or need a partner for your next project, when you´ve got a network of business contacts, it´s much easier to get things done.

Another great way to make new social connections is a blog. If you don´t know how to run a blog, configure and host it, I have a very special solution for you. Click on the following link and just leave your eMail.

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Pedro de Lemos
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Pin ItOver the past couple of posts, we´ve been working on helping you understand your target audience and find your unique positioning when it comes to social media. These are crucial first steps to becoming a social media success and once you have those items a bit clearer in your mind, you´re ready to start experimenting with how you´ll participate in social media.

The nice thing about working online and in social media is that you can reshape your plan as you go along. So don´t worry about having your target market and unique positioning engraved in stone. It´s not necessary as you will find that even if you have it figured out now, your audience and their needs change over time. And if you´re smart, you´ll evolve with your audience.

So with all that in mind, let´s look at our big 5 networks to see how you can fit in.

Social Media Reporting – The Big 5

Facebook

This is a pretty visual social network with a lot of possibilities for sharing. Images and video do well, and while you can share text, you might find that if you add an image to your text, you´ll get more views and responses to your status update.

Facebook also offers the ability to poll your audience which can be a lot of fun for participants and enlightening for you. You can also share your company history through the Milestones feature, keeping in mind what would interest your audience most.

Facebook offers pretty in-depth analytics and gives you plenty of clues on which content does well and which type of content doesnít. Use these analytics to figure out how to hone your presence.

Twitter

Twitter is a more text-based social network that requires you to be succinct in your sharing, as you only have 140 characters to make your point. You can post images and link to videos, but users will generally need to click through to view them.

One of the biggest opportunities with Twitter is to use their @ replies and RT (Retweet feature). Place an @ before a username, allows you to communicate directly with users on Twitter and can pave the way to new connections. RT allows you to share someone else´s useful update with your audience, which is another way to foster goodwill among like minded users.

Google+

Google+ is another visual network with a lot of images and, in particular, videos being shared.

While using Google+, definitely take advantage of their Circles feature, which allows you to categorize your contacts in any number of ways. This allows you to keep friends and family separate from business contacts. It also allows you to categorize your business contacts as well. For example, you can make circles for your customers, affiliates, mastermind groups and more.

One of the most unique opportunities at Google+ is Hangouts, which offer a group video and/or audio chat. It´s perfect for brainstorming groups, planning and getting to know your audience betterÖso take advantage.

Pinterest

As you probably know, Pinterest is the most visual network of all because it is simply a collection of images. Videos can also be shared, but aren´t in as much abundance.

Images that you share on Pinterest should be categorized appropriately and include a description that adds to the user experience. Choose images that are visually striking that make people feel like the item in the picture is in the same room as them.

LinkedIn

Your approach to LinkedIn should be that of an information sharer and connector. Connect people who should know each other and offer help through groups and answering questions. For LinkedIn, the key isn´t in the number of connections you make, but the quality of those connections so put your focus there.

As you can see, each network is a little bit different. A lot of people attempt to use social media integration tools that simply broadcast their updates across all networks, but this is a short sighted approach. While I do encourage the use of social media integration tools, it´s important to use them wisely and we´ll talk about that in a later post. Take the time to deliver the right information to the right audience on the right social network and you´ll have much better results.

If you can´t wait for the next post, I have a great video how you can use a simple wordpress blog to generate tons of contacts all over the world. Just click on the following link and leave your eMail ==> Click On This Link!

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Pedro de Lemos
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Pin ItNow that you know your target market a whole lot better after our last post, it´s time to look at what you bring to the table. Social media marketing requires unique positioning just like the rest of your marketing.

In fact, it might be even more crucial in social media because you´re competing with hundreds or even thousands of other voices vying for attention at the exact same time. When someone comes to your website, you still need to grab their attention, but there aren´t a bunch of other people shouting their latest tweet or status update all over your page. Unfortunately, that´s how it is on social media. Whether it´s your personality that shines through or the type of information you provide, there needs to be a reason your audience looks forward to your social media updates.

Start by thinking about why your readers are drawn to you. Why do they like and share your stuff? How are you fulfilling their wishes, helping them achieve their goals or how are you easing their worries? If you don´t know why, simply ask them.

If you´re still not sure what makes you different, take a look at your competition or other companies that you follow on social media. What do they do that makes them unique? Write a list of about 10 companies and determine their unique social positioning. That doesn´t mean you have to copy what they do, but by exploring it and being able to recognize uniqueness, you can find your own too.

Some of the things that might make you and others unique include the ability:

- to make people laugh
- to inspire people
- to make people ask themselves tough questions

Social Media Marketing Ideas

Now that you know your target market a whole lot better after our last post, it´s time to look at what you bring to the table. Social media marketing ideas requires unique positioning just like the rest of your marketing.

In fact, it might be even more crucial in social media because you´re competing with hundreds or even thousands of other voices vying for attention at the exact same time. When someone comes to your website, you still need to grab their attention, but there aren´t a bunch of other people shouting their latest tweet or status update all over your page. Unfortunately, that´s how it is on social media. Whether it´s your personality that shines through or the type of information you provide, there needs to be a reason your audience looks forward to your social media updates.

Start by thinking about why your readers are drawn to you. Why do they like and share your stuff? How are you fulfilling their wishes, helping them achieve their goals or how are you easing their worries? If you don´t know why, simply ask them.

If you´re still not sure what makes you different, take a look at your competition or other companies that you follow on social media. What do they do that makes them unique? Write a list of about 10 companies and determine their unique social positioning. That doesn´t mean you have to copy what they do, but by exploring it and being able to recognize uniqueness, you can find your own too.

Some of the things that might make you and others unique include the ability:

- to make people laugh
- to inspire people
- to make people ask themselves tough questions

…and just about anything else that evokes a strong emotion or thought. How can you get your audience feeling and thinking about something?

Your uniqueness can also be found the type of media you are know for sharing, whether it´s:

- Video
- Images

…but there needs to be something unique about those videos, images or other media. After all, everyone and their dog has their own YouTube channel, but what makes your production different than everyone else?

Well, one way to ensure your content is different is to understand that uniqueness requires some self-development as well. It sounds airy-fairy, but it´s absolutely true. Offering something deeper doesn´t come because you want it to, it comes from being deeper yourself. That includes:

- Sharing an opinion: Don´t be afraid to say what you think, even if it´s not conventional wisdom. It doesn´t matter if people think you´re wrong, you´re getting people to think and you´re showing yourself as someone who is able to think for themselves.

- Look at things from different perspectives: In addition to having an opinion, take the time to understand different perspectives. The more you understand the opinions that oppose yours, the stronger your opinion will be.

- Avoid simply copying what everyone else is doing: Just because ABC Company is doing a series of videos on gardening tips, doesn´t mean you have to follow suit. The more you can pay attention to your own audience´s needs and disregard your competition (unless you´re in a one on one battle of some type), the more likely you´re to find your uniqueness.

- Experience things: Don´t just talk about stuff on social media, get out and do it. By doing more, you have more valuable content to share with your audience. Whether its opinions based on your experiences, photos, videos or something else, by getting out and experiencing life, you bring more to the table for your audience.

If you look at all this again, you´ll see that being unique really comes from bringing your best self forward. If you want to stand out from the crowd, dig deep to find that best self and serve your audience faithfully. The benefits will be worth it.

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Pedro de Lemos
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If you´ve been operating your website and business for a while, you probably have a good idea who your target market is. But your social media audience could be considerably different. Plus, each network is unique, so how you approach each one might be quite different.

It´s important to take the time to explore your social media targeting because the more deeply you understand them, the easier it will be for you to create a connection and keep their attention.

To get to know your social network targeting, here are a few things to look at.

Social Media Targeting - Know Where Your Customers Are

Ideally, you want your social media following to be reflective of your target customer base. There is no sense in building up an audience of people who have no interest in buying your products. It seems obvious, I know, but I´m always surprised by people who are more concerned with follower numbers than actually building a targeted connection.

This report from comScore can give you some clues on how certain demographics of the population are spending their time online, giving you some ideas where your market might be. You can also gather this information by engaging your own audience on your blog and elsewhere to find out where they might be.

Social Media Targeting  - Pay Attention

Pay attention to what your current followers like. Take note of what they respond to, comment on and share. Look beyond their interaction with you and look at their own profiles. What is common to the people who seem to follow you?

Ask Them

Engage your followers in conversations, so you can get to know them better. You can even create polls and ask them direct questions about what kind of content they´re interested in, what questions they need answered and more.

Shape Your Own Target

You certainly have some control over your target market as well. If you share certain types of content, you are more likely to attract a certain type of audience, so don´t be afraid to experiment.

Add to that, you can shape your following by following targeted people as well. Follow companies and individuals whose social network presence resonates with you. Get involved with their conversations and connect with their audience as well.

Using This Information

Once you have a good idea about who your target is, you have to deliver the content they are looking for and this may take some experimentation. This is the time to put aside your personal preferences and find out what really gets their attention and engages them.

To help you start formulating the right kind of content, ask yourself the following questions:

- What are their key interests?
- What beliefs are vital to them, as it relates to your niche?
- What are their goals?
- What challenges do they have?
- What are their dreams and wishes?

When you have this deep understanding, you can start delivering things that satisfy the questions above. Remember, to experiment with different types of content. Whether its images, video, text, links to blog post or just about anything, find out what they like and deliver more of that.

PS: Learn how to use Social Media for your online business here ==> www.workwithpedro.com Just leave your name and eMail!

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Pedro de Lemos
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We´ve all seen pages on Facebook with thousands, even millions of followers. We´ve seen the same with Twitter and other social networks. It may seem a little overwhelming if you´re starting with a small following and it may feel like you´re just not going to get anywhere if you don´t have a huge following.

But the truth is, a targeted following is always your best bet. While you should always work toward growing your following, you can still get results from your well-cultivated following. So keeping pushing forward. It´s worth it.

To get you started, here are some tips for growing your following:

Invite Your Website Visitors

Pin ItWhen someone visits your website, one of your main goals (if it´s not for them to buy a product) should be to get them on your email mailing list. That way, you can contact them directly over and over again through your list. But another thing you want new visitors and even regular visitors to do is follow you on social media. Having multiple avenues to communicate with your audience is a good thing and allows you to stay in the mind of your prospects.

Include buttons on your site that allow your visitors to follow you directly on your main social media networks. While, it may be tempting to offer up a ton of options and include buttons for every social network you´ve joined, do consider these pitfalls:

- By including too many choices, you decrease your chances of getting your visitor to do anything. The old saying that “the confused mind always says no”, is absolutely true.

- Add to that, when you include buttons for networks you´re not that active on, you don´t provide a very good experience for your following.

Instead, keep it focused and limit your follow buttons to the networks where you participate readily. In addition, include invitations to follow you on social media in your blog posts and other content. Don´t just rely on buttons in the side bar, ask them to follow you directly.

How To Get More Followers? Invite Your Mailing List

Sending your mailing list to follow you in social media gives you yet another way to communicate with your audience. Include follow buttons at the end of your emails, but also mention some of your interesting posts inside the emails you send. For example, if you posted a video you know they will want to see, send them to Facebook to view it. Or if you´re online and are available to chat, start a Hangout on Google.

Just one tip…make sure the updates you share are public. While it might make sense to make them private, so people have to follow you to see them, it can be frustrating for your subscribers. After all, your subscribers have ALREADY told you that they´re interested in your stuff and have ALREADY given you their email address. Don´t make them jump through hoops to see your additional content.

How To Get More Followers? Make Friends in Your Niche

One of the easiest ways to grow your social networking and online following is by making friends with others in your niche. That effect is even more dramatic when you make connections with influential people in your niche. Always spend time on developing meaningful relationship with likeminded people because it has a lot of benefits:

- You can share one another´s content
- You can share ideas and give each other advice
- You can cross-promote products

And we´re talking about meaningful relationships here. Not just simply following someone on Twitter and hoping they´ll notice your @ replies. You need to connect them directly, meet them in person or offer to help them in some way. Real relationships don´t develop through liking someone´s Facebook status, so do the work necessary to grow your network of friends.

How To Get More Followers? Get Involved an Interact

Even though liking someone´s video on Facebook isn´t going to make you best friends, interacting regularly with people can help you get noticed. Provide useful commentary on content that is complementary to your niche, get involved and be visible. If people can use you, they are more likely to follow you.

Of course, balance this with the important of keeping your schedule and avoiding distraction. Always be very purposeful about your participation and you will reap the benefits.

Remember, Growing a Following Goes Both Ways

Remember, that growing a following through SM goes the other way too. Get people to share your content on social media, so you can drive that traffic back to you. Getting that traffic back from social media helps you grow your list and sell your products.

Always make it easy for people to share your content. Include sharing buttons on your blog posts, free report download pages and just about anywhere you publish content. The easier it is for people to spread the word, the more likely they are to do it.

More Advice Coming in the Next Couple of Posts

Obviously, the most important key to gaining and retaining your following is to be interesting and useful. These are huge topics that deserve some discussion of their own. So we´ll be talking about just that in the next couple of posts. Next up, we´ll examine how to be interesting by understanding your target market and really getting a grasp of who you´re talking to. Then we´ll talk about being useful and providing something unique that others in your niche don´t. When you master that, it´s much easier to grow and nurture your following.

PS: Learn how to use Social Media for your online business here ==> www.workwithpedro.com Just leave your name and eMail!

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Pedro de Lemos
Online Marketing for MLM

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Pin ItSocial media is one of the most important business communication developments in a long time, but it´s also one of the biggest sources of distraction and is often a time suck for otherwise productive business owners.

Learning to manage your own social networking time will help you leverage all those great benefits and help you get rid of those unwanted side effects.

Here are some social networking tips to get you going Know What You Want to Do

Before you log into another social network, make sure you have a very clear idea of what you want to accomplish with your social networking participation. While you should know where you´re going before you go there in all aspects of your life, it´s even more important on social media because it´s just too easy to get distracted. Whether it´s political stuff that gets you all fired up or a funny meme of a cat saying something hilarious, we´ve all been there.

Im also talking about knowing what you want to accomplish on a large and small scale.

You should know what you want over the long term (ex. expand your reach, get more loyalty from your audience, etc.) and what you want to do on a daily basis (ex. respond to comments, post a new video). Whether you use paper and pen, mind map software or voice memos to yourself to plan, record your ideas, so you have a rock solid plan for what you hope to do.

Social Networking Tips - Limit the Networks You´re Involved In

Too many business owners try to be everywhere at once. It´s a recipe for burnout and it isn´t likely going to grow your business because you won´t have time to work on your actual business. It´s important to select only a handful of key social networks and if you´re just getting started with social networking, simply start with one network and move from there.

Of course, finding out what works best for your business will take some experimentation. Just don´t rush to do everything at once because you need to dedicate the appropriate time and effort to seeing what produces the most benefit.

Finish Other Tasks First

On a daily basis, work on your core business tasks first and then try saving social networking for the end of the day. That way, you can ensure everything that needs to get done gets done. This strategy also allows you to do more exploration on social networking so you can find new people to follow, interesting information and more.

Carve Out Your Time

Know how much time you are going to spend and what you´re going to do before you log into any of your accounts. Setting a limit is important, particularly if you have other business tasks or personal things to attend to when you´re done. Making sure you have your tasks outlined also helps you stay on track, instead of following that link to a YouTube video of an amazing 5 year old opera singer.

And always remember, when you log in, serve your audience first. You can´t go wrong by focusing on your audience.

Have a Notification Strategy

There´s nothing more detrimental to productivity than being interrupted all day long with emails telling you about new retweets, likes and comments. You can limit these interruptions in a few ways:

- Turn notifications off completely. Rarely, is there a social media emergency and if you´re already checking in regularly, you don´t really need to get an email notification for everything.

- Some networks, like Pinterest, allow you to get a daily digest of notifications, instead of receiving an individual notification of each update.

- Don´t send the notifications to your main email address. Choose an address you check less frequently, so you aren´t constantly distracted by the new updates.

Keep Your Business and Personal Accounts Separate

While you may share some personal information on your business accounts, it´s easiest if you keep your business social networking activities separate from your personal ones. There are actually a few benefits to this.

The first is eliminating distractions. So if Aunt June sends you a private message and your friend Steve post a funny picture of his toddler, you won´t distracted from your to-do list.

Keeping things separate also helps you stay informed about your niche and makes it easy for you to be a useful for source of information for your readers. So follow personal connections on your personal accounts and follow industry leaders and information providers on your business accounts. That way, your news feeds will be relevant to what you are working on.

And finally, it makes you more relevant to your followers. Many online business owners broadcast business related information to their friends and family when it doesn´t really make sense. And the reverse problem is true. If you´re posting a lot of personal information, it may or may not be of interest to your business followers. You can avoid this, by separating your social media activities.

Get Help

There´s no reason you have to do all your social networking yourself. Even if you´re a solo entrepreneur, you can build a team or have someone alongside to help you. You can have someone help you with:

- Posting updates
- Scheduling updates you´ve prewritten
- Creating and collecting images and other useful content you´d like to share

Building a team that represents your brand puts a lot of pressure of your and allows you to focus more on strategy and business building.

Use Tools

We are going to talk about various tools that can help you in a later post, but there are plenty of tools that can help you schedule updates, allow you to view your various network streams in one place, compile analytics for you and more. These are very useful tools to ensure you keep tabs on your interactions, allow you to participate more efficiently and can help you rework your strategy for maximum effectiveness.

PS: Learn how to use Social Media for your online business here ==> www.workwithpedro.com Just leave your name and eMail!

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Pedro de Lemos
Online Marketing for MLM

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If you´ve ever looked at Wikipedia´s “list of major active social networking sites“, you´d see they list over 200. That´s a lot of social network  websites to potentially get involved in, but of course, you can´t be in al those places. Nor, do you need to be.

Big 5 Social Network Websites

You may find that some of those networks fit perfectly in with what you´re doing, but for the most part, you´ll probably focus your efforts into the some of the 5 big social network websites we´re going to talk about in this post. My goal is to help you understand what these networks are all about and how they might fit in with your marketing plan.

Facebook

Facebook was launched in 2004 and reported they have 955 million monthly active users at the end of June 2012. They are the largest social network by far that reaches a wide audience and age ranges.

With Facebook, you can create a Facebook Page where your audience can sign up to receive your updates. Over the past year, Facebook has become a much more visual network with companies and individuals sharing more photos and videos.

A wide variety of businesses benefit from participation in Facebook. Businesses can also advertise cost-effectively to grow their following and Facebook provides “Insights” which provide Analytics to help understand the effectiveness of posts.

It is also a very interactive network that allows for the sharing of detailed content and the commenting system makes for an even more cohesive interaction.

Interestingly enough, Facebook is a more closed format than networks like Twitter and Pinterest, in that it´s more difficult to have your content seen by people outside your direct following. Still, with the large number of people on Facebook, it´s difficult to go really wrong with your Facebook presence if you built it strategically.

Twitter

Launching in 2006, Twitter now has over 500 million active users and receives over 1.6 billion search queries daily. Twitter also reaches a fairly wide demographic like Facebook does.

Twitter´s uniqueness comes from it´s 140 character limit on updates, creating a need for businesses to create interesting, entertaining and concise content for their users. While, you can upload photos to Twitter, it is a more text-based social network and that works very well for some businesses.

It is also a very open format where, unless your Twitter updates are made private, users can search and easily find content from people they don´t follow. As I mentioned, the site has over 1.6 billion queries per day which presents a tremendous opportunity for businesses sharing content on popular topics.

LinkedIn

The oldest of these big 5 networks, LinkedIn was launched in 2003. While considerable smaller than Twitter and Facebook, they are a more focused network. With 175 million followers, LinkedIn´s focus is on professionals making connections.

Service providers do very well on LinkedIn, but most businesses can benefit from a LinkedIn presence. The site is a source for not only finding employment and clients, but also allows like-minded business people to share ideas, advice, connect to work on projects and more.

Google+

A relative newcomer, Google+ was launched by the search giant in 2010. They have over 400 million users, but only about 100 million are active on a monthly basis. Google+ attracts a more technically-mind audience, but offers interesting possibilities due to its connections with Googleís other products, including search.

Like Facebook, Google+ allows for the sharing of lengthy content, creating discussions, sharing photos and photos. And while Google+ doesn´t necessarily reach the average social media user, the strength in Google+ comes from a number of sources and a couple of notable ones are:

- The +1 button: On the network and throughout the web, Google users are able to show appreciation for content by giving it a “+1″. The +1 can help grow word-of-mouth audiences, but also can have an impact on traffic through search engines.

- Hangouts: Sophisticated video / audio conferencing software is built in to Google, allowing businesses to make more meaningful connections with their audience. Even the President of the United States and other public figures have held their own Hangouts.

Bottom line is, if your audience is on Google+ (it may or may not be), it´s a good idea to explore the possibilities.

Pinterest

Pinterest is social media´s current darling. They officially launched in 2012 and according to Comscore, by January 2012, had 11.7 million users. While on the surface, it seems like they have a very small audience, it´s a unique network that many business strategists are keeping an eye on and many businesses are tapping into.

This is the most visual network by far, as it´s focus is on sharing photos (videos can be shared too) of things that interest its users. These shares are called “pins” and allow users to create virtual “pin boards” in a variety of categories. The site also attracts considerably more men than women, giving you something to consider in your participation.

If your web content tends to be very visual or your product photos are visually appealing, there could be a place for you on Pinterest. Like Twitter, Pinterest is a very open network and you will find that your Pinterest content is readily seen and shared by people who don´t directly follow you.

Parting Thoughts

Where you put your focus, is up to you. Just remember it´s always better to do one or two things really well, instead of a bunch of stuff haphazardly. If you´re just getting started with social media, pick one to get your feet wet. If you´re already involved, consider if you´re putting your attention into the right areas and perhaps make a plan to explore new areas or dig deeper into existing ones.

PS: Learn how to use Social Media for your online business here ==> www.workwithpedro.com Just leave your name and eMail!

Your Friend & Partner

Pedro de Lemos
Online Marketing for MLM

Follow me more closely
==> www.facebook.com/deLemosPedro

Pin ItIf there is one thing that has stood out in the world of online business in the past few years, it is been the focus on social media.

There is no doubt that social media has an impact on the lives of many and has become the way many people receive and send information online. In this day and age, it just doesn´t make sense for any online business to ignore social media.

But you´ve got to be careful. Social media can be a powerful online tool for businesses, but one always has to be mindful of time, resources and response.

And that´s exactly what our guest blogger, Greg Watson, is going to help us do. We are lucky to have him here for a series of 11 posts and he´s going to deliver us plenty of advice to ensure we make the most of the opportunity social media offers us.

Without further ado, I´ll just let Greg introduce himself

Hi, I´m Greg Watson. I´ve been getting my feet wet, often drenched, in social media for business since about 2007. I´ve managed social media for my own businesses, advised countless other businesses and continue to learn and grow as social networks evolve over time.

I mention the evolution of social media because what you find today, may not be what you find tomorrow. While everyone always things of social giant Facebook and longtime player LinkedIn, most of the big networks we talk about today are only a few years old. That makes social media a very new business tool, so there is plenty to learn and plenty of exploration to do. I hope to help you with that learning and exploration with my guest post series here.

A few stats to get us started:

* According to a 2011 Q3 report by Nielsen, more than 80% of Americans use at least one social network. That is a staggering number and one that should really get our attention as business owners.

* In a Comscore report from the end of 2011, they stated that Facebook accounts for 1 in every 7 minutes spent online. Remember, as mentioned earlier, social media is becoming the way people receive and send information. It´s their go-to place.

* Social Skinny.com reports that 91% of social marketers increased website traffic through social activity. That´s what we all want, right? More eyeballs on our web pages is always a good thing.

* While it was a relatively small sample of 1000 Facebook users, these results from Lab42.com are very interesting. In their survey, they found that 50% of Facebook fans prefer brand pages to company websites, which leads us to an obvious question. Do you have a Facebook page and if you do, are you leveraging your Facebook page effectively?

What we´ll be talking about in this series:

While I have mentioned some pretty impressive stats, we have to mix it with a dose of reality. Many people are flocking to social media, but our businesses are not social media. That´s where I see a lot of people making big mistakes. They put so much focus into social media, they forget that they are actually trying to run a business.

Social media is a great lead generator and can help us form closer connections to our existing audiences, but all that is worthless if we neglect everything else we need to be doing. That´s why I will always be mindful of that when I share my thoughts in this series. I will show you how to use your time wisely and how to streamline things, wherever possible.

Some of the topics well be covering in the coming posts include:

• Understanding the big social networks and deciding where you should be
• Managing your time effectively
• Growing your following and establishing yourself as a valuable resource
• Tools to streamline your marketing, without looking like a robot

and a bunch of other stuff. We´ll even talk about some unexpected benefits of social media marketing, so hold onto your hats, we´ve got a lot to cover .

Thanks Greg. I think that we will learn a lot in the next blog posts.

PS: Learn how to use Social Media for your online business here ==> www.workwithpedro.com Just leave your name and eMail!

Your Friend & Partner

Pedro de Lemos
Online Marketing for MLM

Follow me more closely
==> www.facebook.com/deLemosPedro

Pin ItEmpower Network ? Is this another multilevel marketing company? No, Empower Network is a blogging system (with an excellent affiliate program), which is  configured and ready for you to start with your blog marketing. Did I also mentioned that it is easily to duplicate? Now you know it Blog Marketing and in this case with Empower Network. it is an interesting marketing method that you can use in your daily steps. Why? You do not need any technical skills and you can generate your own leads online. With a blog. Continue to read this Empower Network Review…

Empower Network Review- Generate Leads With Blog Marketing!

Yesterday I assist to a video conference about blog marketing, where I was also invited to speak about my experience and the results that I get in this area. We had 91 participants in this video conference. I was really excited by this number and the interest shown about this topic. You should know that many people seek for a possibility to generate leads online because of this…

The Major Challenges For Many Distributors:

1. Lack of contacts
2. The lack of knowledge about how to generate leads online

The solution is a blog. With a blog you can position yourself on the internet as a professional in your area and build a list of new, fresh contacts.

As you now know, Empower Network is a WordPress blog, with a monthly investment of $ 25 dollars. Now, some will ask, “Why should I pay $ 25 a month for a blog if I can use a free WordPress blog?” Good question my friend. Here are my reasons why I use the Empower Network blog, even though I already have a blog on WordPress (for example that you are now viewing):

1. Empowernetwork.com has a great ranking in Alexa (so you start to get traffic fast)
2. Setup is no longer necessary, because everything is ready (I know how long it can take…)
3. You already have a design
4. SEO – optimized for search engines
5. Training with the best Internet Marketers (I just can say that this is awesome)
6. Simple to duplicate, because no technical knowledge is required (anyone can use it immediately)
7. Fantastic affiliate program (build another stream of online income)

Empower Network Review – Sign up and get started

You do not need to invest time in design and configuration. After your registration, you can immediately start blogging. I know exactly how much time and money you can invest in building a blog on WordPress… You can spend many hours to search errors in the configuration, then you do not like the design, a plugin does not work, etc… and what you should do, write articles, record videos, you do not do. Empower Network Blog facilitates all this work and if you want you can join also the affiliate program and earn an extra stream of income. For this, you pay an affiliate fee of 19.90 dollars per month.

Empower Network Review- Another source of income

How can you build with a blog, an additional source of ncome? What don´t do is post your affiliate links on the social networking sites. If you do that, you don´t understood the significance of a blog.

How does the Empower Network Blog, works?

Every time you post an article, the search engines will notice this and send their spider to check your content and if it is qualified as good, you will receive some traffic to your blog. So, the more articles you have the better. Each time after a blog visitor leave (at your blog) their name and eMail, then purchase also an Empower Network Blog, you’ll receive 100% of the commission. This means that the monthly fee of $ 25 dollars, you’ll receive it and not Empower Network. Fantastic, isn´t it?

So if you are interested to know how to blog, earn an extra stream of income, don´t know how HTML works and don´t want to waste too much your time with configurations, do the following: click on the link below, leave your eMail and see the free video:

==> Start You Own Empower Blog Here!

Any questions, get in touch with me.

Your Friend & Partner

Pedro de Lemos
Online Marketing for MLM