Currently viewing the tag: "online marketing tips for small business"
Out of all the different social media platforms available, Twitter has become one of the most popular choices among smart business owners. According to a recent survey from BIA/Kelsey and ConStat, Twitter use among SMBs more than doubled between 2009 through the fourth quarter of 2010 to reach 19 percent. At its current rate, Twitter use among businesses will equal Yellow Page use by the end of the year.
Although a large number of SMBs have signed up, many are still unfamiliar with how to get the most out of it. The following are a few ways business owners can leverage Twitter in their social media marketing campaigns.
Show some personality
Twitter can be a powerful way to show your company’s unique culture and strengthen your brand. Posting interesting and entertaining things will make your company seem more friendly and accessible to your customers and prospects. Try sharing humorous stories, or links to interesting articles that relate to your industry. You can even customize your Twitter background to reflect your personality even more.
Twitter background inspiration
Offer people something
Give people a reason to follow you. Give free advice, answer questions, conduct a contest where the 20th reply gets something for free, give a discount, etc. The key is not to talk AT people, but to talk WITH them. Using Twitter Search (link to search.twitter.com), you can search keywords related to your industry, and engage with people asking questions. They will see you as an expert, and are more likely to refer others to you.
Moonfruit case study: Laptop giveaway boosts Twitter traffic by 1000 percent
Drive traffic
Make sure to provide links in your tweets back to your website, blog, online store, press releases, or whatever else you want people to click on. Problogger.net’s Darren Rowse has had success driving blog traffic by tweeting a question and including a link to his blog. “Instead of telling your Twitter audience that you’ve published a new post, ask them their opinion on the core topic you’ve covered,” says Rowse. “Asking a question engages your Twitter followers and solicits their experience.” The more followers you have, the more likely it is that at least some of them will click through. Additionally, the more followers you have, the better the odds are that your tweet will get re-tweeted, giving you even more exposure.
Follow relevant users
A big mistake that many users make is trying for quantity over quality when it comes to who they follow. While it might not matter for the average user, savvy business owners should concentrate on targeting who they follow. You want to build relationships with people in your target area that are likely to purchase your products/services. An event marketing company in Denver is not very likely to receive business from a 9-year-old in New York who is tweeting about his favorite video games. Again, the search feature is a great way to find quality connections.
Make sure people know of your profile outside of Twitter
You can’t efficiently build a Twitter following if nobody knows about your profile. Post links to your Twitter page on your Facebook profile, your website, your blog, your email signature, or anywhere else where people outside of Twitter might see it. Post your Twitter handle in your storefront window, or your promotional flyers. The more creative you can get, the more people will remember you.
Simply put, social media is all about interacting and building relationships. Combining the above five simple techniques while making your tweets interesting, relevant, and friendly, will go a long way to improve the effectiveness of your social media marketing campaigns.
Follow Kutenda on Twitter @kutenda
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Are you a small business based in Colorado? If so, we want you! 
We are officially launching our Local Accelerator program to the Colorado public. Designed to accelerate online lead generation and sales for Colorado small businesses, this program promises to offer a complete Internet marketing makeover to one lucky local business every month!
The program combines fulfillment services with access to Kutenda’s Internet marketing tool-set and training to get your company successfully marketing online. We’ll be choosing one lucky company every month … Selected companies will receive over $9,000 in services at no cost and 3 months of free Kutenda access.
If you’re based in CO, submit your company here: http://kutenda.com/accelerator.html
According to new projections from Outsell, Inc., digital/online marketing will overtake print in 2010. Companies are projected to spend $119.6 billion on online and digital strategies. For small businesses, marketing online is a known challenge due to the intense learning curve, budgetary constrictions and the lack of available software. Kutenda has set out to change that with it’s Internet marketing tool-set for small businesses and the Local Accelerator program is making the extra leap locally by offering tools, services and training for free.
The Local Accelerator program includes all of the foundations for a comprehensive Internet marketing strategy that will drive leads and sales. We begin by creating a website or optimizing your existing website for lead generation and search engine rankings. Companies walk away with a list of campaigns, content and the tools, training and support to pick up where Kutenda’s fulfillment process ends.
Specifics include:
• Promotional landing pages with automated response emails
• A prospect-focused email marketing campaign designed to convert
• Customizable email templates
• A search advertising pay-per-click campaign
• Live local search listing
• Optimized keyword list for specific products / services
• A knowledge base of Internet marketing best practices
In order to qualify, companies must be based in Colorado. We’re accepting submissions at http://kutenda.com/accelerator.html via a short form. Each monthly winner will be contacted directly by Kutenda’s director of training, Alex Ross. We are allowing companies to resubmit monthly for another chance to win.
Suggestions for increasing your chances of being chosen:
1) cross your fingers
2) grab your rabbit-foot key chain
3) send your intern on a hunt for the perfect four leaf clover
4) maybe eat a bowl of Lucky Charms… whatever it takes…
GOOD LUCK!
Online marketing can be confusing, and for busy small-business owners like yourself, it’s bloody hard to find the time make sense of it all.
That’s why you should click here and watch these online marketing videos.
They’re short and packed with practical Internet marketing tips that you can use today to improve your business.
The videos were shot in Kutenda’s very own recording studio. OK, perhaps ‘studio’ is a bit of a misnomer. Michael’s basement is more accurate…
The harried SMB’s shortcut to online marketing savvy
You already know that online marketing—web site development, search engine advertising, email marketing, etc.—is more targeted and more cost-effective than traditional marketing.
Do you ever get PPC mixed up with the BBC? Or thought that hosting a web site meant that you had to prepare appetizers?
A search engine results page, or SERP, in Google.
My first forays into online marketing left me asking a lot of questions. Maybe you’ve had a similar experience. Luckily, for people like us, there is a wealth of resources and expert knowledge available on the Internet to help even the greenest of online marketers get started.
My first step was to get a working definition of SEO. I quickly learned that SEO stands for search engine optimization, the process of optimizing your web site so it is easier for the search engines to find it, thus driving more visitors to your site. More visitor traffic means more chances to communicate, and more communication can provide opportunities to produce more sales.
As you may already know, a major announcement was recently made in the Internet marketing world—that of an alliance between Yahoo and Microsoft in an attempt to create more competition for Google.
Kutenda Has Your Back
Part of the value that Kutenda brings to our partners is to act as a source of ongoing education about Internet marketing trends that you and your clients should be aware of. In that spirit, I’d like to let you know how we believe the Yahoo and Microsoft partnership will impact you, our Kutenda partners, and your customers.
