I work with several financial institutions, just like Next Financial Group, who realize the power of social media and want to leverage it to expand their online presence, but may be unsure of EXACTLY what they are allowed to do according to Compliance and FINRA regulations. Social Media websites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have popped up on the radar of compliance officers across the country as financial institutions are realizing the importance of using social media to connect with their next generation of clients. Hands are tied… or are they?
What are geolocation applications and why do they matter to your business?
Geolocation applications like FourSquare, Gowalla and the recently released Facebook places are the latest social media trend and the next big thing for businesses and advertisers to use to connect with prospects and customers.
So what exactly are geolocation applications? A whole category of apps that are based around phones that are smart enough to know your location. If you have a smartphone, you can use these geolocation applications to check in to places, let your friends know where you are, and see where you friends are. You might see the use in this if you’ve ever gone somewhere, only to discover later that your colleagues or friends were there too. Beyond simply knowing where your friends are, on Foursquare and Gowalla you can also see tips left by people who have visited that place before you, for example in a restaurant you might find a tip about what to order.
Social Media Marketing is the most misunderstood form of new media, costing companies thousands, if not millions, in wasted time and money.
The other day, I posted a blog with Social Media Networking Statistics and received several phone calls from people wanting help and a social media action plan. In this blog posting, you’ll find three tips to help you make sure your social media marketing efforts are headed in the right direction to help your business grow.
Social Media Statistics that you just can’t ignore… Watch this Video.
Compelling facts from the video. While it was no doubt Erik Qaulman had it created to promote his book Socialnomics, (no I’m not an affiliate) it opens your eyes up to the massive opportunities created by these new web 2.0 mediums. Social media isn’t a fad. It’s growing exponentially and you better get with the program or get left behind.
I remember way back in the CompuServe and AOL days when people thought that the Internet was a fad too. They waited to get their website going. Same thing happened again with blogging. Now it’s Social media that has so many business professionals confused on the best practices to use to grow their business.
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What’s really cool about it is that EVERYONE who participates will get their photo in the November issue of Fast Company! http://fcinf.com/v/bdtg
Regardless of which Social Media, Social Networking or content sharing website you’re involved with, they all have user profiles, settings and options to configure that can help make it easier to connect with you online.
Make it a point this week to revisit your profiles on the social media sites you’re involved with to make sure you are taking advantage of their options and you have a keyword-rich compelling profile. Start with YouTube, Twitter, Facebook profile and company pages, LinkedIn personal and company profiles and remember that “keywords drive traffic”.
Be proactive and utilize social media marketing and social media networking to find or create your dream job.
I‘m not that political, I’m just a business owner that loves to help my clients. I pay in plenty in payroll, social security and unemployment taxes. I guess you would call me a conservative.
As an entrepreneur my entire life I don’t understand why big government wants to increase taxes on small businesses. From my point of view, albeit limited, if government cut taxes for small businesses, they would hire more people or pay their current employees more which would mean that they would spend more and everyone would win. Okay, back to using Social Media Marketing to help with your job search.
Twitter is everywhere. New Twitter applications, additions, and syndication tools have made communicating your value and creating relationships amazingly simple.
Simple, but not necessarily easy. I’m sure that most of you already have a Twitter account, but are you leveraging it? I only tweet a couple of times a day and I’m not a twitter fanatic, but certainly see the value in growing your followers. Randy Gage, a colleague “@Randy_Gage” has really leveraged Twitter. He sent out a tweet and within an hour he had 150,000 people visit his Prosperity Blog.
Here are a few tips to help you leverage Twitter as a professional.
I’d bet that many of you would classify your efforts with Social Networking as “social NOT working.”
It’s NOT working until you engage in conversations, spread your expertise, and most importantly “add value.” With hundreds of social media sites out there, it’s hard to maintain focus and really add value and stay active on every site.
So, start by focusing your efforts on these top five social media sites. Here is a brief overview.
This is the most popular video content sharing site. If you’re new to YouTube, go get your channel, which is to say go sign up for your account – your account name is your channel name so select it wisely. It’s better to have a keyword phrase or your name than it is to have your name with a number or something obscure. For example, I have a few channels, but my main channel is www.youtube.com/primeconcepts (go subscribe now). I also have www.youtube.com/fordsaeks, but too many people spell my name wrong so I send the traffic to the Prime Concepts channel. There are several other popular video sharing sites each with their own theme, but master YouTube first. Then you can leverage your efforts on other video sharing sites, using sites such as www.TubeMogul.comfor starters. Share value-added content and watch your business grow.
Are you using the social media sites correctly to send traffic to your website?
Are you linking to your Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Youtube or other social media accounts from your website?
With more than 400 million active users on Facebook, 30 million accounts on Twitter, 100 million U.S. viewers on YouTube, 50 million users on LinkedIn, and 200 million blogs, I’ll assume that you are actively participating on some level with at least a few social media sites.
Beyond using this medium to connect with new groups of people in unique ways, you should be making sure they want to learn more about you and what you have to offer so that they’ll either Google your name or just follow a link-back from the social media sites to your website.
I work with several financial institutions, just like Next Financial Group, who realize the power of social media and want to leverage it to expand their online presence, but may be unsure of EXACTLY what they are allowed to do according to Compliance and FINRA regulations. Social Media websites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have popped up on the radar of compliance officers across the country as financial institutions are realizing the importance of using social media to connect with their next generation of clients. Hands are tied… or are they?
Continue reading ‘NEXT Financial Group – How can we leverage Social Media under FINRA’s regulations?’
Geolocation applications like FourSquare, Gowalla and the recently released Facebook places are the latest social media trend and the next big thing for businesses and advertisers to use to connect with prospects and customers.
other day, I posted a blog with 
Make it a point this week to revisit your profiles on the social media sites you’re involved with to make sure you are taking advantage of their options and you have a keyword-rich compelling profile. Start with YouTube, Twitter, Facebook profile and company pages, LinkedIn personal and company profiles and remember that “keywords drive traffic”.
‘m not that political, I’m just a business owner that loves to help my clients. I pay in plenty in payroll, social security and unemployment taxes. I guess you would call me a conservative.
I’d bet that many of you would classify your efforts with Social Networking as “social NOT working.”
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