Last week we looked at how utilizing Twitter in small businesses can save marketing dollars, expand your customer base, and manage and increase your ability to build relationships. In this final segment, we look at additional ways Twitter allows small business to reap big rewards.

According to research released recently by O2, the mobile phone provider (“Small Businesses are Catching Twitter Bug,” Richard Tyler, The Telegraph, 16 March 2009), almost one in five small businesses now tweet regularly. Although the larger, multinational firms were the first to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, increasing numbers of small to medium sized businesses are taking the plunge.

If you’re one of the 40 million people who enjoyed watching the “Wedding Entrance Dance” on YouTube, you are familiar with the concept of viral videos. In less than six weeks, Jill and Kevin’s wedding entrance had been viewed over 25 million times. No doubt, viral videos can attract a lot of attention and drive traffic to your Website.

Of all the small business marketing options social media creates, Twitter presents the most challenges in determining its use to help your company grow. Luckily, you don’t have to be a computer expert or a marketing guru to infuse Twitter into your overall promotional strategy.

The latest trend in Internet marketing, Facebook, has a lot of potential if you use it wisely. Among its many advertising opportunities, groups and pages stand out as two of the most effective and easiest methods to promote and brand your business. 

In recent years, having an Internet presence for your business meant putting up a website. While still an important feature for promoting your business, a website is no longer enough. Web 2.0, or the social web, is an essential feature of a successful marketing plan to reach your clientele.

Adding Social Media Marketing to your overall marketing plan can help turn lagging sales around. Take the time to be proactive and sign-up for social networking sites. However, unlike some of your competition who may sign up and never use them again, you can easily show positive growth by using this innovative marketing option. 

This is a much longer post than usual, however, recent prospects still don’t quite understand the basics and I thought it was important for my VA connections…enjoy!  

Blog forums are a great place to start generating free traffic for your blog. Because of the obvious shared interest in the topic, blog forums create new interest and grow your following.

Some of the better known blog forum sites are: Blogger Forum, Bloggeries and Blogst Forum. A basic Google search will yield vast numbers of forum sites; it’s worth checking to see how active any forum is prior to… Continue reading the rest of this article...

Join me for an interactive and FREE teleseminar where I’ll share what I believe is the current State of the Virtual Assistance Industry, what it means to you, and your business, and why I believe 2010 can be an exceptional year for VAs.

Date: Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

Time: 7:00 – 8:30 PM EASTERN

Registration is required go here to register: http://bit.ly/7yv2tb  

Several days… Continue reading the rest of this article...