Among these mediums, the most rapidly-growing tool you can find for brand-promotion is a social media campaign, where you tap into a like-minded audience that functions as a tight community where information, recommendations, and ideas can spread almost exponentially. The potential for corralling new customers is so great, it may convince you that a sizable portion of your marketing budget should be allocated to an intelligent social marketing campaign, which takes into account the dynamic nature of the relationships that make up any group. You must remain current, and be ready and capable of tailoring your service to appeal to a sometimes fickle group, by introducing the product in different ways that complement current trends.

The initial thing you should do is to integrate yourself into the community that looks like the best fit for your intended marketing campaign, which should come later. Interaction between your profile and the members of the social group will then, over time, yield information on their particular interests as well as the websites they visit; it’s up to you to use this information to tailor the presentation of your product or service to seamlessly meld into these interests. Because the group tends to share interests, information passed is much more trustworthy than if it came from an external source, the customer base is easily given expand your marketing all by itself.

One thing that you should avoid at all costs is firing off product pitches to the people in your new social media network. There isn’t a greater defeatist action out there than spamming, which will quickly undermine the effort and trust you built up. What you want is to keep in mind that everyone is consumers at all times; so, the more people you are able to bring into your social network, the more will happen upon your profile in a completely natural fashion and keep your brand in mind.

Smart Social Campaigns for Business is a post from: Social CRM Blog | CRMSocialMedia.com

1. Share your article on Twitter . Twitter is one of the most powerfull social networking and microblogging where you can share tips or other informations with your followers. After each article posted I tweet it so my followers can read it immediatly.

2. Share your article on Facebook . Facebook is less important than Twitter in my oppinion, but also is very important in getting traffic and loyal readers.You can connect with peoples from all over the world and you can share all kind of tips with those persons…

3. Post your article on Digg.com ,Reddit.com ,Sphinn.com . Those are the most important social bookmarking sites that I know , maybe it’s a wrong idea but in my oppinion those sites are the most important. You can post you article on those social bookmarking sites and there your articles may be votted and you get get a lot of traffic.

4. Comment on other blogs with smilar articles . Search on Google with the main keyword for your article and read the first 20-30 articles and comment them.You can even specify about your fresh article, but be carefull, don’t send SPAM comments .

5. Promote your article on niched forums . Search for forums which are using the same niche as yours and promote your articles there.You can create a new thread where to present your article and indicate it as a usefull article.

6. Search for social bookmarking sites that are using the same niched as yours. On the internet are hundreds of thousands of social bookmarking sites where you can post your articles, but you should try to find some good social bookmarking sites with the same niche as yours.For example,I’m using Sphinn.com because there are posts about :SEO,PPC,SEM,Social Media and others related to SEO and Social Media.

So , those are the most simple six steps for promoting your article in less than 10 minutes.After those simple steps you can start a link building campaign for your article for bringing it in first 10 search results.If your article it’s very important, you can send some press releases,but in my opinion this is not a nice way to promote your article ,dispite of increased efficiency

Niceblogger’s Author bio : I was the president of a regional youth organization and now I’m just posting High Quality Wallpapers HD on my blog. Or if you want, I’m also posting some SEO Resources on another blog.

How to Promote Your Article in 10 Minutes or Less is a post from: Social CRM Blog | CRMSocialMedia.com

Set Menus

Sure, it’s an old standby, but it still makes the evening feel special to the patrons.  Instead of your regular menu, create a few set menus especially themed for the evening, with everything coming in portions built for two, each paired with the perfect wines from your cellar.  You have to prepare fewer dishes that way, but you can still charge a premium for the meal and happy couples will pay without complaint.  Plus, don’t forget to dress up the menu itself, too!  A customized cover on your menus will drive home how special the meal is, designed from top to bottom for Valentine’s.

Aim for Ambiance

Do what you can to rearrange the place and make the layout especially for couples.  Get rid of large tables and for the love of St. Valentine, shut off those bright overhead lights.  Dim lights and candlelight should be the rule of the day, even if you’re just a cafe.  If you’ve got the time, try to make each table its own little “pocket” of warm light, and pull out some partitions to isolate one table from another..  An intimate meal makes for an intimate couple, and they’ll remember you for it fondly.

Go Exclusive

Not every restaurant can do this, but give it some thought.  Few things can put a damper on a couple’s fiery evening faster than having to stand in line for an hour just to make it to the bar, only to wait ages more for their food to arrive.  Worse, if this happens you can be sure they’ll blame your restaurant for the crowd and refuse to come back.  If you make Valentine’s Day a special reservation-only evening, you can ensure you are giving the truly best service to the most people you possibly can – and no more.

Roll Out the Social Media Bandwagon

When preparing your ad campaign for your V-day delights, don’t neglect the Internet, especially if you’re aiming your arrows at younger couples.  This is the time to dust off your Facebook page, Twitter account, email lists, and Google Local listing.  Best of all, Internet promotions are free (well…they do take time so I guess they aren’t 100% free).  Also, while coupon nights are generally a bit lame and can feel tacky, having small, exclusive promotions that are only for your online customers can also help bring in the hip crowds.   Besides, they’re never too young to become a valuable regular at your restaurant!

And finally, call this one an unValentine’s Promotion:

Have a Singles Night the Day Before

This lets you stretch a single holiday into two days!  There are plenty of people who always feel left out on Valentine’s.  Why not give them their own evening, with its own menu and promotions, the day before?  Be playful with it.  You could give menu items names like “The Souffle of Self” or perhaps “The Bachelor Pad Thai,” playing up the virtues of being single.  Plus, if some lonely singles happen to meet at the bar, perhaps they’d be interested in making reservations for the following evening…

These are just a few ways your restaurant can succeed this Valentine’s Day season.

What specials are you running at your establishment on the 14^th?

5 Restaurant CRM Tips in Time for Valentine’s Day is a post from: Social CRM Blog | CRMSocialMedia.com

Here is a list of the top 10 simplest things you can do to improve your social media presence and help build affinity with your potential and current clients:

1. Claim your business name across all platforms. This may seem like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised how many small businesses do not have their business name claimed on social networking sites as well as search engine profiles. Make sure that you log into www.facebook.com and www.twitter.com to create a profile on each of those platforms. Likewise, you’ll want to set up a business profile on Google Places, Bing Local and Yahoo Local. Doing this across as many platforms as possible will ensure that only you control information regarding your brand online.
2. Prepare your website. Make sure that on each page of your website you have information that links to your social media pages. Additionally, you will want to provide an email address, phone number and physical address of your business. This is important because you want to give potential customers as many ways to stay in touch as possible.
3. Use interesting media on your platforms. It is one thing to tweet or post on Facebook, but it’s another to make your content interesting. Make sure you are using relevant video, pictures and strategies to invite customer feedback on your pages. Perhaps you offer contests and invite individuals to post their favorite pictures engaging with your company—whether it be a restaurant or a retailer store. Remember, it’s okay to get creative as long as you are obeying the site’s terms of service.
4. Encourage reviews. Ask your customers to provide feedback online. Make sure that you are not only enticing good reviews. Bad reviews are also okay because they give you an opportunity to improve your services and address customers directly online. Obviously you want to strive for great reviews but many online listings and review sites have terms of service agreements against using certain tactics to ensure only positive reviews for your business.
5. Try to think like your customers. Where do your customers go for information? What do they want to know? Think about what types of websites and social media fan pages you like to go to and why they are appealing. Try to match these successes in your own online strategy.

Remember that the best thing you can do for your online social media presence is to be a place people want to do business with. The way you treat your customers is going to be reflected online so make sure that you genuinely have a customers-first mentality and culture to your business. If not, you subject yourself to nasty reviews and a ruined brand online. Remember, your customers are constantly connected through various social networks and those who think fondly of you will make sure to let their friends and followers know about it. These are just a few things to consider when developing a social media strategy for your local business. You may want to seek the help of an online marketing expert or agency. If not, make sure that you are prepared to maintain your brand online daily. Make sure you have a laptop with a wireless internet card, as you don’t want to be stuck somewhere without interent when the site needs attention. The Internet is the first place people go to find and share information. Your brand is being discussed online whether you know it or not so make sure you are a part of the conversation. Are you interested in doing more to help build your business network online?

About the Author

Ty is a freelance writer who tends to write in the technology, social media and CRM space. We welcome him on our blog!

5 Social Media Ideas for Your Small Business is a post from: Social CRM Blog | CRMSocialMedia.com

1)             Being devoted to social media is the first thing you need to master. Time should be allocated each day to your social media pages, and the first area that you can use this time for is to conduct market research. This is a free way of finding out just what people like and don’t like about your business. Use surveys and polls to get instant feedback from your important clients and customers.

2)             Secondly, the interlinking aspect of social media is extremely powerful and just by posting interesting content; you are immediately exposed to all your followers and their followers, as well as anyone who decides to share your news. Even journalists or bloggers can pick up on your content and distribute it – all for free.

3)             Gain credibility as an expert source of information. You should take some time to participate in discussions and answer questions whenever you can, on topics that are directly linked to your industry on external social media pages, but also in your own social media groups, where your customers want to hear from you.

4)             Social Proof is an important aspect of social media and will enhance your credibility by way of social signals, meaning the number of Retweets or Facebook “likes” for example. This kind of author authority is now considered an essential factor when it comes to Google rankings.

5)             Offer something extra to your clients and customers via social media platforms. This can be done in the form of a competition, special discount or promotion that is specifically for your followers. This has the two-way effect of not only improving your customer service, but it gets more people to join your social media pages to take advantage of these specials.

6)             The instantaneous nature of social media will allow your business to communicate effectively with your clients and customers, providing them with the ultimate support and service they require. Whether it is communicating through interactive methods such as video chat and video conferencing, or responding immediately to customer questions or complaints, this kind of direct human contact increases customer retention.

7)             Feedback from social media platforms can lead the way to new products and innovations. What better way to show your customer that you care, than by actually taking their ideas and advice and implementing it into your business model?

8)             The dynamic nature of social media is highly beneficial for customer service, as you can establish conversations with customers and clients, find “thought leaders” in your industry, and enhance your communication strategy effectively. Being in touch has never been easier!

9)             Social media is a quick, affordable and highly effective way to introduce your branding to the world and to get your brand noticed.

10)          Track your brand and find out what conversations are taking place talking about your business or products. Any problems can be pin-pointed and rectified immediately.

11)          Watch certain trends emerge across the various social media platforms and take advantage of them.

12)          Networking is easy. For the B2B market, sites like LinkedIn offer you the opportunity to make connections and start networking with others in your industry.

13)          Social Media advertising in the form of paid ads can be used. Sites like Facebook and Twitter have now implemented this. These ads provide quick exposure to the social marketplace.

14)          SEO, or search engine optimization, uses social media platforms effectively and is one of the basic elements that should be included in every SEO campaign. Not only will it provide essential backlinks, but also “Social Proof”, the new factor in search engine rankings.

15)          The final way to improve your customer service by way of social media includes using many forms of social media, instead of just one. Facebook and LinkedIn are great for communication and building customer relationships, while social news sites like Digg or bookmarking sites like Delicious and Twitter are perfect for introducing new products and announcing your content.

Whatever social media sites you use, make sure you read and learn all of the etiquette before you start. The aim is to be social, first and foremost – not promotional, then develop these easy techniques to enhance your customer service.

Improve Your Customer Service Online With 15 Easy Steps is a post from: Social CRM Blog | CRMSocialMedia.com

The home improvement store Home Depot is one business that has found social media to be a beneficial tool to communicate with their customers. On the Home Depot Facebook page customers are able to post comments about the company. This enables customers to voice a concern to them in a more personable way than having to go through the standard corporate channels. Home Depot can follow the dialogue on their page and learn what their customers are thinking. If a customer has a complaint Home Depot can see it and respond quickly. If a customer has a great experience with the company and shares this on the page everyone can see it and want to shop there. This is essentially free advertising for the company.

The cable service Comcast has jumped on the social media bandwagon as well with their own Twitter account which has served to enhance their customer service ratings. Anyone with anything to say about Comcast can voice their opinion to @Comcastcares. Comcast monitors this Twitter account very closely. Any unhappiness voiced by a Comcast customer about the company is dealt with immediately. Within minutes the complainant will receive a response from a representative at ComcastCares. Anyone following the person making the complaint on Twitter can see the response and see that Comcast truly does care and is trying to the resolve the issue. This demonstration of a quick and sincere attempt to deal with dissatisfaction shows their customers and any potential future customers that Comcast values their business.

The desktop and laptop company Dell takes business use of social media to a whole new level. They have several Twitter handles in addition to a Facebook page. They maintain a blog in which they interact and communicate with customers and a forum where many answers to many common questions can be quickly found. A few years ago they even launched their own social website where anyone can make suggestions regarding their services and products. Dell uses their social media presence to promote savings to the customers and resolve any customer discontent. Any customer complaints are handled promptly with a response. This has not only increased customer satisfaction with the company, it has led to a dramatic increase in sales as well.

By using social media businesses are better able to maintain an active dialogue with their customers and deal with any issues that come up immediately. By responding to any discontent within their customer base they satisfy the customer and look good to anyone else reading their response. This offers the benefit of retaining customers and gaining new ones. Any positive experiences customers share can be viewed by everyone. This far outweighs anything positive the company says about itself to bring in more customers. When actual people leave positive feedback it is far more valuable than any expensive ad campaign.

3 Businesses Using Social CRM Today is a post from: Social CRM Blog | CRMSocialMedia.com

1. How can you best establish a presence and credibility on LinkedIn?  The LinkedIn presence is developed from a) the profile (which could be for a company, a department or an individual) and b) the discussions and commentary that each presence participates in.  Profiles are much more formal than on Facebook, and the postings and discussions are “business casual.” For example, an individual profile is like a business card. It serves as an introduction with the basic information that you want another business professional to know about you and your products or services.   The kind of profile and presence that you develop on LinkedIn depends upon the kinds of people that you would like to network with. Your profile should be designed to attract the people and industries that you wish to establish contact with. With every action on LinkedIn, think of your purpose and use it as a guideline for the kind of communication you use. Always keep in mind what kind of impact you want to have within that social media space.  The groups and communities that you join demonstrate what your business involves and, to a certain extent, your business philosophy.   The more active you are, the more approachable and visible you will be. Think of it as kind of a country club environment, in a more focused, business sense, without the golf outings. Discussions may be likened to face to face introductions and meetings.

2. How are groups chosen?  The groups that you choose to join should be based upon the goals that you are trying to achieve through the LinkedIn environment. One of the best places to begin are with the groups which are dedicated to the particular sales industry and region that you are attempting to reach.  Search through the Groups section and read the detailed descriptions. As you peruse the information, you can tell from the group’s mission and criteria whether it is the kind of group that will be beneficial for you to join. It is very easy to join and leave groups. Use trial and error until you are able to find the groups that you click with the best. Take a look at the groups that your connections have joined as well. This is a good way to get a double benefit, in that not only do you have another group to learn from and contribute to, but now there is something else in common with contacts who are members. This can lead to some great synergy as you share information amongst yourselves.   To the extent that you are active in the Groups arena of LinkedIn, you can build a presence more effectively. Think of it as a community in which you may be ultimately considered an expert, particularly if you consistently provide useful information. Experts can be great influencers in the social media universe. The fact is that people remember those who provide pertinent data to their own development.

3. What is the referral protocol system in LinkedIn?  First and foremost, be sure that the person that you are asking for a referral from is someone that you know well. Referrals in LinkedIn are not based upon a casual system.  It is also important that referrals do not feel that you are encroaching upon their connections in any way.   When you do ask for a referral, be very clear about your intent. For example, try saying something like “Would you be willing to refer me to [blank] because [blank]?” Taking this kind of approach allows the contact to know the reason you want the referral, which could make all of the difference. If you can’t think of a good reason to ask, perhaps it isn’t the right thing to do.   Realize that the person from whom you request a referral could decline if they are not certain exactly why you need it or for some other reason. For example, some people turn down referrals because it doesn’t seem like it would be appreciated by the target person. When it comes to LinkedIn referrals, it really will depend upon on the particular situation. It is best not to spend time trying to figure out why a referral is rejected. Instead, focus on your next prospect and work to develop that through activity within the environment.

Your LinkedIn Questions Answered is a post from: Social CRM Blog | CRMSocialMedia.com

What is Foursquare? Are you doing it?

1. Asked to a non-smart phone user Huh? What the heck are you on about? That was a game I played in grade school. Hated it. Got my face smashed in with that dirty, maroon rubber ball.
2. Asked to the new computer user Huh? I’ve heard of that Foursquare thingy. Something to do with checks and socialness, and weird Facebooky things, right?
3. Asked to a Foursquare user Huh? Leave me alone while I check into this establishment. I need to become its mayor, get points and badges. Buzz off, weirdo!

Okay, perhaps a bit of an extreme, but two of the three are pretty much spot on!

To get a better idea of exactly what Foursquare is, check out this answer from the Foursquare About Us page:

Foursquare is a location-based mobile platform that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. By “checking in” via a smartphone app or SMS, users share their location with friends while collecting points and virtual badges.

Let us break down the above into digestible bits of information. Location-based must have something to do with where one is while using the service. It makes sense that it was designed to be used as a mobile platform, or with the aid of mobile hand-held computing devices. That would be the smart phones and regular old not-so-smart phones out there (hence the smartphone or SMS in the above quote!)

The downloadable applications for the iPhone, Android and Blackberry phone users of the world provide Foursquare owners with the ability to get information on nearly any physical place they might find themselves wanting to go to. The mobile applications provide data like hours of operation, type of service provided, maps, and which other users might also be at or nearby that vicinity.

To make it fun and addictive, the developers of Foursquare provided points allocation for performing various functions. When a user gets to the business they check in via the application and are awarded points, and sometimes special badges. The individual who has checked in the most times to a specific location over the previous two-month period is deemed to be its mayor.

All of these activities and rewards create an air of competition among friends, especially those living in close geographic proximity to each other. Another great feature of Foursquare is that the service will notify a user when other friends of theirs are also where they are.

Of course, Foursquare is not all fun and games. Businesses are able to use the service to promote their existence to local people in an effort to entice foot traffic and additional sales. Sponsorships are available to any local business and can provide valuable offers for users to take advantage of when coming into the physical locations.

These offers take a variety of forms–from a special freebie or discount to the location’s mayor, or simply a buy one, get one free offer to checked in users. Foursquare makes the platform free and easy to use for local businesses, but also provides for consultations where necessary.

Whether a business owner is hoping to get more paying customers in the door, or one is simply the proud owner of the latest smart phone, Foursquare is interesting, fun, and might add to one’s bottom line.

Foursquare? The Game Kids Play During Recess? is a post from: Social CRM Blog | CRMSocialMedia.com

True Reach:   This is how many people you influence when you communicate via your social networks.  Influence requires that people in your network take action on your posts and communication, so True Reach is a measure of how many people are taking action on your posts, not simply how many people are connected to you or following you on various social networks.  This is a quantitative component of the score that measures how many people you influence.  As an example, consider Brand X.  They have over 5000 ‘friends’ on their social networks after running a successful promotion.  They post frequently on their pages, but few if any of those posts are forwarded or reposted.  Most of their ‘friends’ were simply taking advantage of the promotion and do not have much interest in the content that comes from Brand X.  Brand X has a low True Reach  since their communications do not lead to action.  Contrast that with Dave Y.  Dave Y has only a few hundred friends on his sites, but they all look forward to Dave’s posts and thoughts, and they often forward them on to people in their own networks.  Dave has high True Reach because even though his network may be smaller than Brand X’s, Dave’s posts lead to action.

Amplification:   Amplification is a measurement of how much you influence the people that you influence.  This is a qualitative component of the score and it looks at the frequency with which people are influenced by your posts and messages.  If people often take action based on your posts, your amplification will be high.  This is not just a measure of how many people read your recent post.  Instead, this is a measure of how frequently those people then forward your post or take some tangible action as the result of your post.  Revisiting Brand X, they have decided to run another promotion that rewards their friends for forwarding one Brand X post to someone in their own network.  Several of their 5000 friends take advantage of this one-time offer, but after that one repost, the forwards stop.  Again, Brand X scores low on amplification because the activity is occasional.  Dave Y, on the other hand, has a very high amplification score because his clever and witty posts almost always get re-posted, commented on, and the invariable smiley face and LOL reply.  The frequent and repeated influence on his network earns Dave Y a high Amplification score.

Network Impact:   The final component of the Klout score is Network Impact.  This component is essentially a quality rating of your audience.  It is a representation of how much influence, or Klout, your audience has.  If you have a large audience that you influence, but they in turn are not influencers, your network impact score will be low.  Conversely, even if you have a smaller audience that you influence, but they in turn are a group that all have high Klout scores themselves, your Network Impact score will likely be high.   Again looking at Brand X and Dave Y, the size of the audience is not relevant.  What does matter, though, is who Brand X and Dave Y have in their audiences.  As it turns out, Dave Y is a professional entertainer that attracts a successful, affluent group of followers, including CEOs and other entertainers who in turn are high-Klout individuals.    Brand X is an expensive boutique brand and tends to attract the same type of audience.  In this case, it is possible that both Dave Y and Brand X will score well on Network Impact.  Both audiences are influencers with high Klout scores.  Because Brand X has a larger audience, it may well be that they have a higher Network Impact than Dave Y.

Today there are millions of people using the Klout score to identify online opinion leaders and influencers for things like brand promotion, recruiting, and identifying people that can help drive action.  As the algorithms that calculate True Reach, Amplification, Network Impact and ultimately Klout continue to evolve, more and more marketers and individuals are finding that Klout is a great way to find people to help them spread their messages across the Internet in a way that cuts through the noise and makes an impact.

Your Klout Score Explained is a post from: Social CRM Blog | CRMSocialMedia.com

After nearly three months of operating in closed, private beta, Google+ recently announced their 100th enhancement to the service (their developers have blogged about each and every fix and addition to the social community since it opened). The service is now free and open to any and all with internet access. The key requirement for signing up is to have a Google Gmail account. Since these are also free for the taking, getting into Google+ isn’t really much of a challenge.

The hurdles some business folks might find themselves facing, however, is what happens when they attempt to start using Plus with their Google Apps account. The truth is, they won’t because Google has not activated Plus to work with Business apps accounts at this time.

For most users, however, this isn’t a challenge as many individuals use their company’s Apps services for business activities, and their personal Gmail account for their own stuff. If, however businesses are looking to take advantage of Google+, they will have to wait a bit longer.

What sort of functionality might new users to Google’s social community expect? There are Circles, Hangouts, Games, Enhanced Search and cool mobile apps and features for taking the social network on the go.

Circles roughly compares with Twitter’s List feature. On Twitter, users can create lists and then add other users to that list. This feature makes it easy to categorize and organize others as one sees fit. Circles is similar in that the user can create custom sets of followers and then access their posts for a more personalized stream of news and information.

The Hangouts feature released recently on Plus provides users with the ability to essentially have video conference calls with up to 9 others. The features brings the added convenience of allowing the video streams to come together, or hangout, from either a desktop web cam or folks mobile phone video cameras. Business could conceivably start using this feature to perform informal face-to-face meetings between sales folks and their customers.

Of course there are games and other venues of entertainment. Seems to be par for the course with most social networking communities. Google+ brings social interactions to the forefront with its gaming activities. For those times when working or sharing news doesn’t seem to be the most desired activity, take to social network game playing on the new Google+ platform.

Being a search engine giant, Google uses its expertise in providing people answers on the new Plus service, as well. When one has a question, instead of searching the entire web for a general answer, why not try getting personal insight from the list of followers on Google+? When searching in the new community, answers come from those closest to the person performing the search. Then it expands out to the ever-growing knowledge base on the public Google+ stream. Finally it seeks information from the web in general.

Add in the mobile applications Google is providing its public opening of its Plus community, and one finds it easy to see value, entertainment and unique opportunities to try new things in a social community network.

What To Expect Now That Google+ Is Available To All is a post from: Social CRM Blog | CRMSocialMedia.com