How The Top Performing Brands Are Growing Fans On Facebook

Everyone looking for the Formula - How do the top performing brands become the top performers? Let me tell you for sure, They do not do magic and they are not born famous. In this article you will read how they have become what they are and how even you can achieve what they have:

1.    First and foremost it is essential to determine the key audiences which form the major communities of Facebook. There are three major audiences:

•    Joiners: they form the major percentage of audiences which can go as high as 83%. These people just join your community. Their participation ends here. Once they have joined, they forget about your community and do not put in any effort to promote it. Therefore as much as they look like they are vast in numbers, here’s a number-zero. That is what they are accountable for and you should not pay attention to them much.

•    Sharers: These people, though low in numbers (15%), they are much more active than the joiners and should be paid more attention. They share your posts, participate in your campaigns and make more and more people aware of your existence. The “friends of friends” metric is reached by them.

•    Advocates: these people are very low in number comparatively (1.5 %), but do not go into the numbers as these people make you who you are. They have the ability to make or break you. They do the sharers’ work and also convince other communities to join you.

2.    Constantly offer various ways to make your fans engage. This is possible by holding various campaigns, competitions and giving away free gifts. Maybe initially it will seem like a waste but later this stuff will make your brand gold.

3.    Tell them constantly which posts to follow, which links to follow and what questions to answer. This way the audience will know how to promote your brand in ways it will actually matter.

4.    It is really important to know which posts should be posted when. If you post extremely important stuff in a time where it does not matter at all (like posting about woolens in summers), your effort will go to a waste and people will stop looking forward to anything else you have to offer.

5.    People will not share as many advertisements and promotions as they will share a quiz especially the one which is more related to them for eg. A personality quiz. People want to hear about themselves and know about themselves. This makes them feel personal and special.

6.    Don’t just stick with Facebook. The more social media outlets, the better. Try Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Myspace, Youtube, Tumbir, Pinterest and even a blog. It is never enough. Your brand growth will take place in multiples if you use all of them. So there is basically no reason for you to avoid them.

Now that you know, how the top performing brands became who they are, follow all the tips religiously and smartly and your brand will surely gain the popularity it deserves.

Engaging Closely with Customers through Social Media

Online destinations are developing at a very rapid space. This has enabled the common people to share information and communicate with their friends and families in a much more interactive manner. Not only the mass, but also the professionals are using social media as a platform to connect to other business associates as well as the customers. This has been acting as a driving force that is behind web 2.0. One of the hottest and most discussed technical terms these days is the social media. It has given organizations, both small and large to distribute content that is of very high quality. By the adoption of social media platform the organizations and companies can create communities and also opportunities that are entirely new. This will increase the chances of collaboration between the business organization and its customers.

Wikipedia is one of the most recognized and trusted information resources on the web. According to this highly esteemed website social media marketing is describes the effective use of social networking, blogs, online communities, or any other form of the internet that is collaborative in nature that is helping in building public relations, sales, marketing and giving much better customer service. The social media marketing tools that have become very common these days are Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, StumbleUpon, Digg and Flickr. There are also many other independent blogs that work on different subject matters. If we consider the term social media keeping in mind the context of internet marketing then it is actually the collection of different properties of the web whose content is not published by the direct employees of the property but by the users. For instance most of the videos that can be viewed in YouTube are not published by its employees.

So that you can capitalize the emerging trend in a well defined manner, you have to first develop a Social Media Marketing that is comprehensive in nature for your business. You can take the advantage of the current trends of media by developing and implementing a carefully planned social media strategy should be adopted. This can be well used to accomplish different types of objectives. It can include the action to broaden the reach of your service or product. To can also build a platform which can act as a place of interactive communication between your business and customers? Social media marketing can change the different prospects of your business like operations, management and communications. You can get extraordinary outcomes by applying the minimal effort. You can make an effective plan to increase the site traffic and awareness of your brand.

Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter has fan pages for many organizations and companies around the world. There are also many companies in Europe and rest of the world who have only just started to incorporate the concept of social media marketing in their business. Companies are now gradually realizing that social media platform can really help them to build a strong customer base.

Virtual Platform: Playing Important Role through Various Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms can act as a very powerful tool to promote a product or service. Not only can this people residing in different parts of the world share precious information, ideas and thoughts with each other. Social media is faster than any other form of communication. It has a very far reaching effect. As it operates on the internet, it is sometimes referred to as a virtual platform.

Most of the people wonder why they need a social media platform or tool that is most effective. If you don't use a social media platform that is effective, your business or marketing campaign won't work well. One of the greatest features of social media is that it is capable of spreading your business like wild fire. Many people fail to use the far reaching powers of this wonderful platform in an effective manner. But virtual platform plays a very important role in expanding a business.

Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin are some of the most popular social media & networking sites. They not only help people connect to their friends and other people, but also help them to build a strong relationship with their target audience. Due to this reason companies and businesses organizations have started using this virtual platform to reach greater number of customers and expand their businesses.

Some ways by which a person or organization can use this virtual platform effectively:

•    It should be always remembered that things not going to work if someone simply opens up an account in a social network platform. The business or person has to continuously keep on posting information about the product or service. This will help retain the audience. Their mind will be also occupied with the thought of the product or service. If the audience does not get new content regularly, they will start luring away. If the marketer does not have time to do all this things, he can employ a social media consultant or even employ someone to do it for him.
•    The next thing that should be done to use the virtual platform effectively is to increase the number of followers. Adding new and fresh contents is not everything. If the network has fewer followers the results will degrade soon. The results are directly dependent on the number of followers.
•    The social media account for personal and business purpose should be always separate. No one wants to share personal information with strangers. On the other hand a business account should be accessible by the public in order to gain maximum exposure. The businesses account should be always given a professional look.
•    It is necessary to visit the business page daily. This can done using some tools like Hoot suite or Tweet Deck. These tools help a person manage several accounts simultaneously. One of the greatest advantages of using these tools is that there is no need of signing in and signing out several times. This will help the person in saving a lot of valuable time and use it in a better way.

Why Social Media is Need Of The Hour

Social Media has become a most popular “technical jargon” these days. The combination word connects Social life with media (marketing), which includes activities and technologies that enable the people to share their ideas and experiences with each other. People also get a lot of information from these social media sites. The actual meaning that lies behind the term is that “It is a systematic process of integrating social interaction with technology”. It also involves words, audio, pictures and video which are constructed in a proper manner. This can be appropriately termed as UGC or user generated content. The audio and video that are found in YouTube is an example of user generated content.

Social Media exists in various forms. It includes videos, images, blogs, online forums and wikis. Some of the technologies that lie behind social media are listed below:

•    Social Networks              (Facebook, Google Plus)
•    Blogging                (Word Press, Blogger, Tumblr)
•    Micro Blogging            (Twitter, Google Buzz)
•    Photo sharing                (Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr)
•    Instant Messengers            (Yahoo, G talk, MSN, Whatapp, BBM)
•    Video sharing                (YouTube, Metacafe )

The list can take few pages if we mention each and every portal of Social Media will be a big one if every technology is mentioned. The list of applications of social media will also be a big one. Facebook and MySpace are social networking sites, Flickr is used for sharing photos while YouTube enables a person to share videos effectively and Twitter facilitates networking and micro-blogging.

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Another term that occupies a significant part of Social Media is Social Media Marketing. It uses the power of social media network to promote a service, content or product. One thing that makes SMM different from traditional marketing is that the marketer has to participate in a conversation with the audience. Social media can help you make a strong position in the marketplace if used effectively.

Many marketing professionals are not much aware about social media marketing because they are unable to control the social networks. If a person masters the basics of SMM, he can use its power for corporate branding or reputation management.

Why is social media becoming so popular?

Social media enables a person to reach out and connect to a large number of people with the help of technology. New features are added to social media everyday making it more and more powerful. It can help a start up business to reach a vast audience in no time. The cost incurred in doing the publicity is also very nominal.

Some factors that one must keep in mind while using social media to reach target audience:

•    One should always remember that the web is all about people. One should understand the preference, behavior and language of the people. One should keep an eye on the favorite online hangouts of the people.
•    Before going for social media marketing one must clearly decide whether he/she is going for testing the product or its marketing. One should clearly define the motive behind the actions.
•    One should also make an idea about the outcomes and what target he is looking forward to achieve.
•    One should also make sure about the technology he is going to use for the social media marketing.

Top Keywords Social Media Buzz Online!

Effective campaigns, keyword research, deep down grilling of core-keywords, relevancy, Latent Semantic Indexing, Stemming, Long Tail Keywords, synonyms, volume and traffic, KEI etc etc all lead to gather one common thing - what is the page or site is about and what it want to achieve with SEO & Internet Marketing Techniques.

In the media world where all the leading SEO, SEM Pros are fighting for each 'word', here is an overview how the online marketing and social media buzz words as compared to top social properties such as Twitter, Myspace, Youtube, Digg & Flickr.

After looking at these charts, one can get an idea which keywords are in high demand, whats latest and which keywords are user talking about in the www.

These charts are just provided to give you a birds eye view, no guarantees of accuracy, all info is brought to you by sitevolume.com ( we are not anyway associated with the said site)

Digg's latest SEO / SEM buzz shows PPC is the top keyword searched and/or talked about, followed by SEM: 

Flickr's latest trending buzz shows SEM is the top keyword searched and/or talked about with no major competition as surveyed: 

Myspace users also talk about SEM and it is the top keyword online:  

Here comes Twitter's latest internet marketing buzz shows PPC is the top keyword searched and/or talked about, followed by SEM, chart a bit matching with Digg: 

Last but not the least Youtube's latest online marketing buzz shows SEM is the top keyword searched and/or talked about, followed by SMO, 

so now its upto all those search marketers, twitters and buzz creators online to take what they wish to extract from the analysis drawn.

Top 10 Social Networking Websites & Forums

With UK’s leading social networking site Bebo.com, previously acquired by AOL(America On Line) in March 2008, entering India's online activity, lets checkout the US market share capitalization of Top Social Networking sites:


Note: The Hitwise data featured is based on US market share of visits as defined by the IAB, which is the percentage of online traffic to the domain or category, from the Hitwise sample of 10 million US internet users. Hitwise measures more than 1 million unique websites on a daily basis, including sub-domains of larger websites. Hitwise categorizes websites into industries on the basis of subject matter and content, as well as market orientation and competitive context. The market share of visits percentage does not include traffic for all sub-domains of certain websites that could be reported on separately.

Top Viral Marketing Videos of 2008

I keep wondering how amazing is the viral marketing tools and innovations in terms of search engine marketing.
Besides the brand name, it also helps in stretching the imagination ( for the creator), raises eye brows ( for the competitors) and put a smile ( the visitor or viewer).
Everything is achieved with a one time payment, pay once - be popular funda is a viral marketing.

Here is some of the Top Viral Marketing Videos of 2008 :

A viral for the most popular mobile phone till date : the iPhone




Amazing video, check this out too, don't try this at home is the message ::



This is a viral ad that got amazing viewership : funny ad



Honda Accord's viral marketing video ad explains a lot in details with nuts and bolts :)



Do you like chocolates?
See what change a chocolate can create, amazing ad by Cadburys with the hero Gorilla.



Add your comments and suggestions too :)

Google Filters Orkut and Youtube too!

History of Google Filters ::

In 2003 April, Google tested its SafeSearch porn filter but the results were not as accurate as expected.
How did it worked?Google did exclude the porn / objectable sites via link analysis and will not display the content and the even the site, no matter you did visit the site or not.
In October 2005, Google did test the "similar page filter" or "duplicate content filter" whatever you find suitable, the major change it has created was if a page trigger a duplicate content filter during the SERP ( Search Engine Result Page) ranking, some observed all the pages of the particular site, go in duplicate data /index.
The latest in the Filter tool saga is Google's Orkut Content Filter, here the funda is to automatically screen and mark unsafe, mature content which may not be safe for the users, preventing Orkut from a potentially unsafe future.
How does it work?
Well you have to do nothing to start the filter, it will be ON by default if you are visiting from India.
All the objectionable material including pics, data, text etc will be marked as unsafe and will be placed along with a warning signal.
Google owned Youtube is showing a welcome message today mentioning a new filter well this is a " Suggested Country Filter".

Now this filter is all about setting your country (gathered as per your IP, to my understanding) and expected to help in finding more of the country-specific videos, it can still be changed to Worldwide.

Is this a breach of privacy ? lets keep it to the users to decide...

Adsense features with Mobile and YouTube

Saturday morning got some good news from Google's Adsense by newsletter.

It said exactly as:

AdSense for mobile now available

If you currently run a website designed for mobile phones, or are planning to set one up, you can now monetize your site with Google AdSense for mobile. Similar to AdSense for content, AdSense for mobile automatically serves targeted ads to your mobile webpages, enabling you to earn money while providing useful information to your users. If you'd like to learn more about the specifics of the program, check out the policies and requirements. Or to get started right away, simply sign in to your AdSense account, visit the AdSense Setup tab, and select AdSense for mobile as the product.

Announcing Video Units

We're excited to announce video units, a new way for publishers to enrich their sites with premium, relevant video content on an embedded YouTube player. We know one of your top goals is to enhance your users' experience, so video units allow you to choose which video categories to target to your site and which to exclude, as well as to customize the color scheme and layout of the YouTube player. Plus, the ads provided with the videos are highly targeted and non-intrusive. If you're looking to monetize and enrich your site with premium video content, learn more about video units or simply log in to your account to get started.

Forthcoming Internet Problems in 2010

Predict the future of Internet?
Many people say its bright...
Some say its a bit dull...
How about a warning that it will be a infrastructure crisis ?
Dont believe me....

Here is a news from chinadaily.com,

Booming demand for Internet services combined with insufficient infrastructure investment could leave the Web vulnerable to brown outs within three years, a study released Tuesday predicted.
Nemertes Research said Internet providers need to invest from $42 billion to $55 billion -- or 60% to 70% more than current plans call for -- to stave off interruptions to the digital economy that could happen if the Net bogs down. "The next Google, YouTube, or Amazon might not arise" if the situation isn't fixed, Nemertes said.
The problem, the group said, is that bandwidth usage is outpacing infrastructure build outs. While core fiber and switching/routing technology "will scale nicely," Internet access resources could soon be overwhelmed in three to five years, Nemertes said.

Read the complete story here

Google : YouTube Ads : Now a reality

Google : YouTube Ads : Now a reality : Now be ready to see ads on your favourite videos.

According to InformationWeek,

Google is selling overlay advertising on a limited number of YouTube videos to a select group of partners at a cost of $20 per 1,000 viewers. Initial advertisers include BMW, Ford Models, and Warner Music Group.

The overlay ads appear 15 seconds into certain YouTube videos in a strip on the bottom fifth of the image frame, unless ad-blocking software is active. They last for 15 to 20 seconds.

Clicking on the overlay pauses video playback and opens a new Flash window atop the video window to play an expanded interactive video ad. The initial overlays and click-through windows can be removed by clicking a close button in the upper right-hand corner of the graphic.

Read the complete news here

Rediff Foreys Info Social Media Marketing

Google - Orkut and YouTube, MySpace, and now Rediff in the Social Share Networking Arena.

According to Economic Times,

Buoyed by the growing popularity of social networking and content sharing sites like Orkut and Youtube, Rediff.com today joined the bandwagon by launching a social content sharing platform --iShare--to publish and share videos, music and images.
iShare is a multimedia social content sharing platform for the users and would also enable the professional content owners to distribute their work.
"Multimedia growth is driving the internet in a big way and by bringing together audio, video and images through 'iShare' we are targeting maximum online users," Rediff.com Chairman and CEO Ajit Balakrishnan told the media.
Rediff.com, which currently claims 40 per cent of the internet users visiting its various verticals, is targeting over 50 per cent of people accessing internet in this country with the help of this new initiative and leverage form the multimedia boom.

Complete Story Here

Google's Youtube on Mobile soon !!

For those who are still waiting for the videos to get on Mobile, here is a good news.

According to Gulfnews.com :

Video-sharing website YouTube will be accessible by mobile phones in many parts of the world by next year, the website's co-founder and chief technology officer Steve Chen said on Saturday.

Speaking at a forum on the internet in his home country of Taiwan, Chen said that websites should provide richer content and greater mobility, enabling users to access such sites from anywhere in the world.

He said commuters on subways or buses are likely to access videos of between 30 to 60 seconds each, while people travelling on longer train journeys would probably go for files of up to 10 minutes in length.

Next Best thing is .... Think about it !!

Full Story here

Get Exponential Promotion with YouTube for Free!

Youtube from Google is the next hot Viral Marketing funda. Many future thinking SEO's have already capitalized/accepted on the enormous power of advertising & promotion on the net and what better than YouTube. There is a saying 'A picture speaks a thousand words'. If that is taken true, what will you say about a video ?

Believe me, if you want to get noticed easily with enormous visitors and quaility referals, the next Mantra of online adversiting is Video at Youtube.

Videos I like for the Killer ideas and innovative concepts :

Here are the list of videos that I recently found interesting.
Mostly are the ads with innovative ideas on youtube.

Nissan 4x4 Naturally Capable: Animation at the best



US WeightLifting TV Commercial: Women on Top


Sinking !!! Language difference



Trust your wife : A social Message

Build your own brand using Blog !!

Online Brand Building goes Web 2.0

Now anyone can build a brand online. All you have to do is generate content, build trust and keep consistency and enthusiasm. The internet will take care of the rest if you have anything unique.

Here is a news that supports the same funda,

When ITV announced the £20 million revamp of its website last month, the inclusion of user-generated content formed part of its plans. Even large media owners with access to huge amounts of content cannot, it seems, afford to overlook UGC in Web 2.0. The rapid rise of social networking and UGC sites such as YouTube, MySpace, Bebo, Facebook and Flickr has been discussed ad nauseum, but the speed with which they have built vast audiences and changed the internet landscape remains mind-boggling. YouTube was, after all, only formed in February 2005 and bought by Google 18 months later for $1.65 billion.

Blogs, mash-ups, online reviews, peer-to-peer Q&As, video clips, social networks, Second Life avatars ... in its many manifestations, UGC is proliferating. Small wonder, then, that Time magazine named ‘you’ as its person of the year for 2006, and the US-based Advertising Age anointed “the consumer” as agency of the year. Of course, despite the accolades, UGC is nothing new. What has changed is the ease with which it is possible to create and disseminate content. Widespread broadband penetration, camera phones, easy uploading of content, cheap digital editing software, a rapidly increasing choice of websites welcoming UGC, changing attitudes to social communication, blogs by the million: there are many factors driving the UGC explosion.

Detailed news here

Online Marketing via YouTube : Latest SEO concept

Use YouTube (Ranked one of the World's top 10 site) to Advertise on the www :

According to PCWorld, More than 100 million videos viewed each day, tens of millions of unique visitors, one of the top sites on the Internet and so on.

So, you've probably watched YouTube videos. But have you ever uploaded your own creation? Probably not.

According to the Web-audience measuring service Hitwise Pty., only 0.16 percent of U.S. visitors to YouTube uploaded videos in a recent week. The rest are just watching.

How to market online via youtube ?:

If you're in a small company, or a larger one that doesn't want to mess with video hosting and access issues, YouTube provides a free, easy way to host corporate video. What kind of video?

1. Executive presentations. Executives at many companies provide regular presentations to department groups or even the entire workforce, to discuss financial performance, share information, recognize outstanding workers and so on. While the bulk of the audience may be at headquarters, many others may be in remote offices. Or a lot of workers may be absent the day of the presentation or unable to attend for other reasons. Videotape the highlights of the presentation and put them on YouTube, and they can be viewed by everyone who is authorized to do so. More on that later.

2. Training. Videos can be a great way to train workers on anything from using software and setting up equipment to making a great sales pitch. It's easy to use screen-capture utilities, for example, to show users how to master a new software package, complete with mouse clicks and different screen displays.

3. Help. Does your help desk get repeat calls from users requesting assistance on the same problem? "Now, how do I turn off my 'out of office' message, again?" Videotape the correct steps to solve the most common problems, and build up a bank of self-help videos for users to check first. Of course, knowing users, the help desk would probably begin fielding a lot of calls like: "Now, how do I access those help videos, again?"

4. Marketing. A picture is worth a thousand words, and thousands of pictures streamed together at 29.97 frames per second is worth a lot more. Show off that new shiny hardware to prospective customers or demonstrate that new software and provide product data, statistics or any other information you choose.

5. Events. Computerworld recently held a 40th anniversary party at which the founder regaled the audience with hilarious tales of the old days when he started the company. It was held in a spectacular venue high above Boston Harbor on a perfect spring day. It's a shame everyone in the company couldn't be there to see it, but being able to watch it afterward would be the next best thing. And it would be great if those who were there could watch the highlights again.

Complete Story Here

Vlog : Video Blogging : Promotions and SEO

Have videos or not, but you can start your own video blog or vblog just in minutes.
Its basically a blog with videos and little or no text at all. Vlogs , the latest hit in online promotion arena, are blogs that mostly feature video shorts and not the text as compared with other blogs.
In short we can say Vlog = Video + Blog

According to mefeedia.com (a major online vlog aggregator) 2,580 vloggers who have created over 100,000 videos since last year.

Why Vlog (or Videoblog)?

Its a great opportunity to show/share some videos for special occasions.
- For Team Events
- Parties / Personal events
- Social Events and social media marketing
- Brand building by sharing and distribution
- Politics and Campaigns
- Advertisements and viral marketing
- Product Promotions

How to start a Video Blog >>
All you have to do is:
- Create a blog
- Upload you video(s)if you have or share using Google video or you tube
- Provide title/descriptions

Vlogs extend the reach of traditional blogs making it more on the interactive audio-visual level of promotion. Although videos cannot be search anyhow for content inside, Social media Marketing and referrals can make it a huge success. This is one form of Indirect Search Engine Optimization with great success ratio!!