Here are some more tips for monetizing Facebook:

• Facebook’s core value proposition is connecting and communicating with friends. While word-of-mouth, or “earned” media, helps brands gain Facebook fans, it can only go so far. Companies also need to contemplate using paid advertising to develop their Facebook fan-base.
• Create engaging content. The simplicity of the “like” button means that there may be no actual engagement beyond the fleeting moment of the click. To be successful in this post-“like” phase of Facebook marketing, businesses need to excite their fan-base with compelling posts, interactions that spur a sense of community, and rewards for their ongoing support.
• Give people a reason to become fans. Apps are a good way for any business to have engaging interactions with fans. Everyone wants the latest app, and you can place it for download on your page. The process of sharing will increase your business awareness and deliver good returns on your investment.
• Use innovative apps to help monetize Facebook fan pages. For example, create apps that enable your business to post coupons for promotional discounts on your Facebook page. After clicking on the promotion, fans are prompted to provide their email addresses before receiving the coupon. Thus, you have not only increased the likelihood of a fan becoming a paying customer, but also gained a potential customer’s email address, which you can use for future marketing endeavours.
• Incorporate e-commerce directly into your Facebook page. A Facebook storefront application will enable users to make purchases directly. You can also offer promotional deals to fans, but the storefront app offers the additional advantage of publishing a fan’s purchase on the Facebook news feed. This further promotes the item to your fan’s friends who can then make comments about the item.

Attracting new customers to your brand is a great benefit of Facebook fan pages; but if you have not monetised your Facebook page, then you are missing out on an easy way to generate revenue!

WSI can help create an effective online sales process to convert fans into buyers, get better conversions and increase sales.

Facebook is currently THE most popular social media network online. Market-savvy brands are tapping into their Facebook audience to get instant feedback, find ideas on new product design and seek insights on how to market better. It is a great tool to build brand awareness within your target market. No matter what type of business you are in, you can use Facebook marketing to tap into your social network enhancing positive relationships for your business.

Building your Facebook presence

 Remember, building and nurturing your network comes before monetization. So here’s how to get started:

• After you’ve made your Facebook fan page, take advantage of the various tools Facebook offers businesses to promote their pages.
• You can add your brand logo, any company photos, and as much information and content as you possibly can to build credibility.
• Facebook allows you to connect your Twitter profile, your blog, and your website so they are all linked. The activities and interactions you undertake on one network will automatically be posted on all of your other networks.
• Facebook also allows you to embed widgets on your website pages so that visitors to your site have the option of connecting to your Facebook page.
• To jump start your business page, begin by determining which users and other Facebook groups are the most influential and which ones you should begin interacting with.

Over the last 5 years, the social media landscape has evolved to such a degree that Facebook has become an integral part of even the most rudimentary internet marketing strategy. By extension, a high proportion of SMEs are today actively using the Facebook platform to promote their business.

In this article, we'll take a look at a single but highly valuable aspect of the Facebook experience for business users – adverts.

If you're considering paid search advertising via the internet, then you really should consider Facebook advertising. To quote their advertising home page “Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people and businesses they meet”. So let's get started.

What is a Facebook Ad?
If you're one of the 500 million plus users on Facebook, you will doubtless have noticed the little ad banners that appear in the far right column of the page. Whether you're promoting anything from mobile phone deals, the latest BMW or a product specific to your locality, ads let you reach out to millions of users, 24/7...

What Are The Advantages?
Think of Facebook ads as a more refined version of paid search (PPC), or perhaps the logical evolution of PPC. Facebook ads allow you to target a far more precise target audience via an intelligent use of information drawn from user profiles. Therefore, you are pretty much guaranteed to reach a higher proportion of your chosen market.

Where Do I Start?
The good news is that it's a relatively simple process requiring little more than your page address, an picture, title and some body text (a little traditional marketing savvy is still required here). Facebook will ask you for some basic information regarding your target audience (age group, gender, interests and so on). As a result, you will receive a rather useful demographic projection.

Is It Expensive?
This is where the more traditional elements of search marketing creep back in. There are two options: cost per impression or pay per click. Basically, this means you either pay for a pre-defined amount of 'clicks' on your ad (usually 1000) or per individual click through. Much has been written on both subjects, so a little research is recommended here to establish which is best for you and your business.

Earlier this year social media giant Facebook announced a series of changes to their Pages (the Facebook profile for businesses). The move is designed to introduce consistency across all aspects of the Facebook user experience, and in Facebook's own words “help you manage communication, express yourself, and increase engagement”.

In this article we'll take a look at what to expect and what these changes might mean for the average admin user. Please note however, that this article is not intended as a comprehensive guide to the new updates, but rather to highlight the most significant changes.

Improved Functionality
This section definitely comes under 'help you manage communications'. Managing your admin has been made far simpler. Via the 'See all' function, users can now access grouped admin tasks instead of having to use the 'Edit page' link.

• Basic information can now be altered direct from the page title by clicking on 'Edit info'. Change your category via the 'Edit info' link using the drop down menu. This can also be accessed through the 'Edit page' button.
• Fans are now simply shown as a number.
• The 'Information' box has been removed, replaced by the 'Info' link found in the left navigation column.
• With business owners always on the look out for improved efficiency, these changes are a welcome improvement.

Creative Flexibility
Prior to the new update, there was little – if any – room to get creative with the Facebook page. The improved masthead now displays 5 recently added images (known as a 'photostrip') alongside the main image. Whilst this has definitely added visual impact to the page, business users are unfortunately unable to set the order of these images (to create a larger image, for example).

Personal users are still able to, so one is left to assume Facebook wish to retain a primary focus on social use over business. Still, the more inventive user will doubtless find a way to use this to their advantage.

No More Tabs
Sure to provoke a mixed reaction, page tabs have now been replaced by a menu section found in the left hand column, below the profile image. Here are a few tips to ensure your new navigation column is as prominent as possible:

• Make your profile image no larger than 200px in height
• Ensure all options are concisely worded
• Set the order in terms of importance

Business or Pleasure?
You can now switch between your business or personal identity with ease, using the 'Account' link at the top right of the page. No more having to sign in and out of identities.

Featured Like
Users can now specify which of their 'Liked' pages are displayed in the 'Likes' box, simply by selecting them as featured. This presents an ideal opportunity to build partnerships with other businesses for cross-promotion purposes.

Email Notifications
A new and extremely useful feature – email notifications have long been requested by business users. This allows admin users to respond quickly and efficiently to posts and updates from visitors to their page, promoting a more responsive, interactive user experience.

As with any changes within a widely used platform, this latest round of Facebook updates are sure to provoke lively debate. Like it or not, they are here to stay (for the time being anyway), so business users are far better off embracing change than ignoring it. If you would like help improving your Facebook social media marketing activities, call us on 0845 345 2592.

The benefits of successfully engaging customers through social media marketing has prompted much to be written on the subject. In fact, you might be forgiven for thinking everyone has an opinion on how best to market your business using platforms such as Facebook and Twitter – the list of do's and don'ts is literally endless.

Despite this apparent prevalence of opinion, there are certain hard and fast rules when it comes to the subject of social media. In this month's article, we'll look at some of the key pointers for the ever-popular Facebook.

Your Business on Facebook
Social media brings with it a whole new level of customer interaction. Spark discussion; invite feedback; share experiences – and so on. With this in mind, the following tips are designed to focus your Facebook marketing efforts.

Keep Up With The Times
Facebook presents a unique opportunity to connect with your audience – more so in fact than you could ever hope to achieve through your blog or website alone. If you're in business for yourself, you're more than likely to be keeping up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in your chosen field. You may even run regular webinars and talks, alongside consulting with clients and prospects on their business needs.

You can channel all this valuable content into an interactive playground like your Facebook page, where an interested audience seeks out fresh new content to digest.

From industry tips and insider knowledge to the latest trends, your Facebook page is a dynamic environment that promotes discussion and interactivity. By passing on the benefit of your knowledge for free you'll also be raising your stock.

Keep 'Em Coming Back For More!
Whether you choose to reward great ideas with discounts, or simply want to conduct a little market research, Facebook represents an invaluable platform from which to reach out.

Keep your readership engaged by adopting a varied approach, and don't be afraid to experiment. Judge how well you're doing by the level of interaction occurring on the page itself.

Broaden Your Horizons
It's no longer just about the wall. Facebook's meteoric rise in popularity is matched only by the host of plugins and applications flooding the market on a weekly basis. From shopping tabs to hosted support pages, there is a veritable treasure trove of useful material you can use to heighten the customer experience.

Oh, and more importantly, to drive traffic to your site! Check out 'Get Satisfaction' and 'Fan Appz' to get yourself started.

And Now For Something Completely Different...
Facebook is generally acknowledged as a place for light-hearted social interaction. Even if your company has a reasonably serious image, Facebook provides a valuable opportunity to show some personality by injecting humour into proceedings.

For those of you who want to keep it 'strictly business' – Facebook is still a useful tool for promoting your brand and breathing a little life into the business. Use the page to highlight significant events and milestones on the company calendar – supported by high quality corporate images to add a little variety and credibility.

However you choose to use Facebook, there is no doubting its value as a unique and dynamic marketing platform – don't be afraid to experiment and, most importantly, listen to feedback. If you would like to review the effectiveness of your social media marketing activities, call us on 0845 345 2592.

Social Media Marketing is one of the latest online promotional techniques and is quickly growing in popularity as a way to gain a competitive edge. It involves creating content and publishing it via blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook, Digg, Twitter, YouTube and many more.

Social networking websites provide easy to use tools that make it simple to get set up and immediately 'join in'. To be done well, however, social media marketing is like any other promotional campaign, it must have an objective and a strategy to achieve your desired results. Here are some ideas for planning to stand out from the (ever increasing) social networking crowd.

Social Media Marketing for Business
Social media marketing is about enabling interaction as sustained interaction creates relationships, which in turn opens up the opportunities to share information about products and services.

A well thought out, sustainable social media marketing strategy can fulfil many objectives and benefit a business in the following ways:

• Increasing brand awareness
• Providing customer research opportunities
• Opening up an additional direct marketing channel
• Improving public relations and customer service
• Helping strengthen a Search Engine Optimisation campaign

While temporary success may be gained by simply 'getting stuck in', the best way social media marketing will help grow your business is if it becomes part of your overall marketing plan.

Establish Your Objectives
Before venturing unprepared into the social media scene, take some time to consider what you hope to achieve – and how you might measure how effective your efforts will be over time.

Keeping your objectives in mind as you proceed will enable you to be more focussed and prevent getting unnecessarily sidetracked. This easily by-passed step can help convert social media marketing efforts from simply being time consuming to being time well spent.

Listen & Understand
Spend some time finding and monitoring what activity is already taking place amongst your intended audience. If you identify where your customers 'hang out' and understand their community, you will be able to interact with them more effectively from day one.

Choose Your Tools & Engage
Now a good foundation has been set, the next step is to 'join the conversation'. Some of the most popular social media marketing activities for business include:

• Publishing a business blog – as an appendage to your corporate website
• Microblogging, via social networking sites such as Twitter and FriendFeed
• Participating on social media networks, such as Facebook, Linkedin and more
• Running ad campaigns on social networking sites
• Monitoring social media sites in order to follow and participate in the 'conversation'.

While it may be tempting to have a presence in all the available channels (it is free to set up after all), be realistic with your available resources.

Be prepared to share your expertise without asking for anything in return – focusing your efforts on being genuinely helpful is a great way to engage your audience and is a sure way to increase your reputation and social media influence.

Monitor Your Progress and Make Improvements
Participation in social media is not always convenient or directly beneficial, so measuring the activity created by your social networking efforts is key to identifying your progress – and vital for identifying where to focus future resources.

If you would like help creating a workable social media marketing plan for your business, call us today on 0845 345 2592.

Facebook already has over two hundred million users (and growing), so you can rest assured that a number of your customers are already participating on it. Recently, to extend its reach even further, the social media giant has provided the option for businesses to claim a presence. As with a personal account, the Facebook Page is presently available at no cost.

While creating a Facebook Page can be seen as a cheap alternative to building a business website, the best way to use it is to enhance, not replace, your main web presence. So how can a Facebook Page be used effectively to reinforce your main marketing messages? Following are twenty tips for maximising your social media activities.

Using Facebook to Extend Your Reach
Thousands of businesses have snapped-up the chance to create a Facebook Page. Some see it as an opportunity to extend their brand and attract new customers. Others are using it as an established channel to connect with existing customers on a more 'social' level.

Whatever your motivation, it's important to take a planned approach in order to make your efforts worthwhile. Here are some suggestions:

1. Give some thought to your account name, as it cannot be changed after you have set it up.
2. Consider who your target audience is – and where you will find them.
3. Establish your objectives and allocate resources accordingly.
4. Schedule time to review and update your Page – fresh content is key.
5. Upload an appropriate profile image, such as your logo in your business's colours.
6. Join groups in order to engage with your intended audience and acquire fans (followers).
7. Create a new group; be creative, and make it fun, different and relevant.
8. Add a 'Find us on Facebook' link to your website.
9. Place a link from your email newsletters to your Page.
10. Update the blurb box with your company slogan; summarise your ethos or USP in a few words.
11. Create an 'Events' tab to promote upcoming business events, such as seminars or workshops.
12. Set up a 'Discussions' tab to encourage interaction with customers.
13. Add a 'Photos' tab and upload product, event and appropriate staff images.
14. If you have promotional videos, these too can be uploaded to the 'Videos' tab.
15. Create a 'Resources' tab and provide extra resources to further enhance your services.
16. Select which of your tabbed pages will act as your default account home page.
17. Post status messages; your fans will see these updates on their Facebook wall.
18. Respond swiftly to fans posting messages on your wall.
19. Develop a Facebook application and make it available from your site.
20. Launch competitions to engage your audience. This can provide superb viral marketing opportunities.

Keep it Real, Really
Your Facebook Page can be an excellent resource for engaging with and building loyalty amongst your customers. Be genuine, be yourself and keep an open mind; hit the right tone and the rewards will be worth your efforts.

In conclusion, a quick word of warning: Keep in mind that social media marketing is still in its infancy. Be wary of anyone claiming to be a social media marketing guru. Instead, look for successful case studies to learn new techniques and help you to hone your networking skills. If you would like help with establishing a workable social media marketing strategy for your business, call us on 0845 345 2592.

From its humble beginnings as a student project in 2004, Facebook has had a meteoric rise in popularity, with subscribers spending a staggering three billion minutes on the social networking site every day.

You may already be one of the 175 million plus people using Facebook to connect with friends old and new – but have you considered setting up a Facebook profile to help promote your business?

Using Facebook for Business
Facebook is a social networking site that provides tools and applications (apps) designed to bring people with similar interests together.

In September last year Facebook extended its reach even more by introducing Facebook Pages, which it describes as "a customizable presence for an organization, product, or public personality to join the conversation".

Bringing it all Together with Facebook
The updated Page functionality provides customisable tabs for organising your content. The social networking tools will accommodate publishing up-to-the-minute Twitter-like status updates, videos, blog posts, events and more.

All your Page activity is presented as it happens on the Wall, including any interactive content created by your followers (fans). This works in a similar way to the normal user profile.

Embracing the Pull Marketing Ethos
Using Facebook for business purposes is not about blasting your message out to a potentially massive audience; it's much more about implementing pull-marketing techniques in which you give in order to get back.

The Facebook Page interface is similar to the normal user profile, providing some excellent tools for engaging with customers on a social, interpersonal level.

While social media marketing is more direct than Search Engine Optimisation, for example, it should still be adopted as a long-term strategy.

Using Facebook for Business Effectively
Having other Facebook users follow you (become a fan) is key to your Page being a success. This can be accomplished by a combination of activities:

• Publishing good content regularly
• Seeking out other good content you can link to
• Incorporating your business blog posts
• Publishing product-related videos and events
• Seeking out and joining groups related to your business
• Creating a group in which others can participate with you (and become your fans)
• Using the applications provided to integrate your other social media activities

Key to using any social media website effectively is the amount of time you dedicate to creating and publishing good content, and then interacting with others to build your network.

An Integrated Marketing Approach
The benefits of successfully engaging customers through social media marketing are clear – but it shouldn't be pursued at the cost of your other marketing activities. Your social media marketing activities should be part of an integrated marketing approach, with search and email marketing playing key roles in increasing web traffic, converting sales and retaining your customers.

If you would like to review the effectiveness of your social media marketing activities, please call us on xxxxx-xxxxxxxx.