LinkedIn Endorsement

October 2, 2012 By Lynn Brown 18 Comments

New And Easy To Use LinkedIn Endorsement Feature

As we know, social media plays a huge role in online businesses. Even those fairly new to the Internet business world have heard about the importance social media plays in boosting visibility for you, your business, products or services. The question is, “Are you simply promoting you, your business or your products — over and over again — or are you utilizing social media to enrich others and create a cooperative community?”
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“Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.” ~ Sally Koch (click to tweet)

Challenge yourself to assist others. While it may seem odd and counter-intuitive, keep reading and you will gain a deeper understanding about how promoting others helps improve your success as well.

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-I am a great advocate of endorsement marketing.

What Is Endorsement Marketing?

I’m sure many friends or colleagues have shared stories about a fabulous meal they had at a restaurant or animatedly described a movie they recently viewed. These glowing recommendations are the simplest form of endorsement marketing.
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Call it “word of mouth,” “buzz marketing” or whatever you wish. The best way to gain recognition is for others to endorse you, your business, products or services.

Endorsement marketing is a formal way of educating others about what you experienced and why you’ve chosen to promote a certain business or entrepreneur.

Top 3 Effective Methods Of Endorsement Marketing
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LinkedIn:

Recently, LinkedIn added a new feature that enables you to endorse a contact’s skills and/or expertise. This does not replace recommendations, but it is a wonderful way to recognize others with a simple click – an easy and effective method of endorsement marketing.
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Check out My YouTube Video and learn how to start endorsing your contacts.
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Twitter or Facebook:

Those of you that regularly visit my blog have seen the following advice many times — “Be a Giver First.” I truly believe the most important aspect of social media is sharing and promoting the efforts of others. Championing others demonstrates an aspect of leadership confident business professionals understand.
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When promoting other small business owners or entrepreneurs on Twitter or Facebook, you’re cultivating attention for them. At the same time, the audience notes your presence in the endorsement marketing. You are actually creating a community built upon affirmations, which, ultimately, spark a desire to learn even more about you! It’s a “win – win” prospect in an industry saturated with so much advertising, promotion and marketing it can make you dizzy!
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Go ahead…LIKE a Facebook Fan Page…FOLLOW others on Twitter and RE-TWEET some of their information. You will be astounded by the amount of activity that, alone, will generate.
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Offline Promotion:

Time to start talking! If you’re at a store, taking a walk or attending a community event…leave your shyness at home. Sharing information, in person, about other online or offline business is the finest form of endorsement marketing.
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Share some of your favorite websites or first-rate products you found at local stores. It is a great conversation starter and encourages others to share similar information. Use endorsement marketing to ‘break the ice’ and meet new people.
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Don’t be afraid that endorsing others will hurt your business. It accomplishes quite the opposite effect. Supporting others through endorsement marketing increases your visibility as well as the business you’re endorsing. Take action…endorse a few of your contacts and watch what happens!
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May your generosity of spirit be rewarded with health, wealth & happiness!

Filed Under: Linkedin Marketing Tagged With: facebook, Linkedin, LinkedIn Endorsement, twitter, Word Of Mouth

Why Do You Want More Twitter Followers

February 28, 2012 By Lynn Brown 42 Comments

The question of this post might surprise you. After all, everyone wants more Twitter followers – it shows that you’re a powerful Twitter user, with plenty of people who are eager to see updates from you.
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But that doesn’t necessarily answer the question – and if you want to be a successful online marketer, you need to answer that question.
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So as a successful online marketer, why do you want more Twitter followers? It’s about so much more than seeing those follower ‘numbers’ grow in leaps and bounds – it’s about knowing what to do with those followers once you have them.
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With that in mind, it’s time to come up with a list of reasons why you started using Twitter in the first place. As an example, here’s what my list looks like:
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I want to increase awareness of my brand.
I want to promote my services to pre-qualified traffic.
I want to drive traffic to my blog.
I want to reach out to peers in my community to share knowledge.
I want to be seen as a leading expert in my industry.
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This list could go on, but the point here is this: once I know precisely what I want to do with Twitter, I’ll have a better idea of what to do with my followers. That in turn gives me a better answer to the question, “Why do I want more Twitter followers?”
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Once you define what your Twitter goals are, you’ll have a better idea of what you should tweet – and your Twitter account will start to become more accurately aligned with the overall goals of your online marketing business.
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I would like to hear from you … why do you want more Twitter followers? Please add to my list and leave your comments below.
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To Your Online Marketing Success!

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Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: Marketing Strategy, online marketing, twitter, twitter followers

Top 10 Reasons to Take a Quantum Leap in 2012

January 27, 2012 By Lynn Brown 7 Comments

In case you missed it, yesterday began a Fantastic Expert Series … Take A Quantum Leap in 2012 was kicked off by my good online business colleague, Yvonne A. Jones. Yvonne is an amazing online marketer and her experience has led her to put together this series that will benefit everyone that wants to improve their business for 2012.
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One of the great things that she has put together is this FREE tele-summit. She has 10 Experts (including me!) to help you make this your best year yet! I personally know many of the other experts and I have to say, they are fantastic professionals and super knowledgeable. I consider many of them not just my peers, but my mentors!
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Martha Giffen started off the series with Blogging Your Way To Online Success and Beyond. Every week now, Yvonne will be hosting and speaking with us on various topics. I will be talking about Linkedin. Check out this line-up:
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Martha Griffen – Blogging Your Way To Online Success and Beyond
Paul Taubman – WordPress And You
Connie Ragen Green – Article Marketing
Helen Raptoplous – Taking Consistent Action In 2012 -10 Ideas To Move You Forward
Donna Blevins – Mindset
Michele Scism – Your Facebook Fan Page Strategy in 3 Easy Steps
Michelle Shaeffer – Twitter
Lynn Brown – How To Get Linkedin To Be Your Ultimate Social Connection Magnet
Patti Pilling – Weight Management and the Internet Marketer
Yvonne A Jones – Leveraging the Power of Social Media to Enhance Customer Service

What a group!
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If you take away one point from each call and apply it in your business, you will be able to take that giant leap and accelerate your business success.
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You can sign up for all these free calls over at: Take A Quantum Leap 2012
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Taking a quantum leap in your business means that you take decisive action to increase or grow your business in 2012 and beyond.
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Look forward to seeing you on the calls!

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: article marketing, blogging, free tele-seminar, Linkedin, Marketing Tips, online business success tips, social media, take a quantum leap 2012, twitter

Is Follow Friday Hurting Your Online Marketing Efforts

January 13, 2012 By Lynn Brown 14 Comments

A topic that has been going around for a while now ….
The pros and cons – here is my take.
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As a Twitter user, you’ve likely seen the “Follow Friday” hashtag (#FF) being used left, right and center. If you’re new to Twitter or haven’t gotten around to delving into the meaning behind this symbol, then here’s a quick recap for you: the Follow Friday hashtag is used when you want to recommend a friend or colleague to your Twitter followers.
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The ultimate goal of using Follow Friday is to get your readers to follow the friend, or at least check out what they have to say.
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However, in recent months, there’s no denying that Follow Friday has become extremely popular, if not overused altogether. Many online marketers are comparing it to Twitter spam, as it’s far too easy for people to blatantly plug other people and services with just the stroke of a few keys.
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I myself would have to agree with this assessment – I think the Follow Friday hashtag has turned many Twitter updates into spam messages, which isn’t exactly something followers want to see every time they log onto Twitter. I’d even venture to say that Follow Friday could be hurting your online marketing efforts, as followers are quickly starting to associate this seemingly innocuous symbol with pushy sales pitches and thinly disguised attempts to sell stuff.
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However, that doesn’t mean I think you should never recommend a friend’s services or Twitter page to your readers – rather, I believe it’s more important for online marketers to give personal recognition when its well and truly due. By reducing the amount of Follow Fridays on your Twitter profile, the likelihood of your readers to actually follow your recommendation increases exponentially – after all, if you’re sparing with your recommendations, then it really must be good!
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So what do you think? Do you think the Follow Friday fad is over? Or are there better ways to recommend other Twitter profiles to your followers?
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Make it a highly Successful and Profitable Day!

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Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: Follow Friday, twitter, twitter followers, Twitter Hashtags

Reasons Why I Love MarketMeSuite

January 3, 2012 By Lynn Brown 28 Comments

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I’ll admit it: I’m absolutely gaga and head-over-heels in love with MarketMeSuite – and if you use Twitter for your own online marketing purposes (which I hope you do!), then I’m pretty confident you’ll be shouting your own declarations of love in just a few minutes.
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If you’re the kind of business person who wishes for more automation to give you more time in your day, then MarketMeSuite will do just that. Essentially, MarketMeSuite is a free social media dashboard tool that allows you to check out what’s being said about you on Twitter and other social sites. It’s like Google Alerts for Twitter: every time your brand is mentioned via a hashtag – or even indirectly – MarketMeSuite will immediately pick up on it and alert you to what’s being said.
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In addition to giving marketers the opportunity to learn more about what’s being said about their businesses, MarketMeSuite allows busy marketers the opportunity to set up reply campaigns, schedule tweets (even a year out!) and built-in link shorteners, no need to pre-shrink those long URL’s!
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This tool does it all – you can search for conversations via industry keywords, geo-targets and even negative words, so you can start contributing to the chatter within an easy-to-use dashboard format. It’s the perfect resource for the busy online marketer who wants to significantly cut down on the time it takes to engage with social media users and give you a marketing edge.
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Can you tell that I really love MarketMeSuite yet?
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Because I’m not done with my high parise to MarketMeSuite, here are a few more reasons why I think every online marketer should have this tool:
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It makes it incredibly easy for online marketers to find what’s being said about their business. This allows for opportunities to address reviews, highlight feedback or just tune in on what customers are saying.
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It’s also an intuitive social media dashboard, meaning you won’t have to spend hours trying to figure out how to use it (always a bonus!). And should you get stuck or have a question, their customer service is first class.
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This is the best feature: MarketMeSuite allows you to brand yourself in a unique way. When you post status updates on other dashboards or Twitter, the message is usually followed by a promotion from one of these sites (for example, “via HootSuite” “via Twitter” “via TweetDeck”). However, the MarketMeSuite allows you to brand yourself by posting your updates, followed by a link to your site rather than to HootSuite or TweetDeck. Genius!
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This platform just recently added features to manage your Facebook (including groups and pages) and Linkedin accounts too!
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MarketMeSuite has the ability to add users to your account, like executive assistants or virtual assistants, to help manage your account.
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Did I mention it’s free?

Check out MarketMeSuite at marketmesuite.com to learn more about this must-have Twitter tool.
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Are you currently using any social dashboards? Think you might give MarketMeSuite a test run?

Make it a highly successful and profitable day!

Check Out My Video

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: facebook, marketmesuite, social management, social marketing, twitter

Future Social Media Marketing Trends You Must Know About

September 16, 2011 By Lynn Brown 33 Comments

As the year progresses to its end,

social media marketing trends show no signs of slowing down.
While Facebook recently enjoyed reaching its 750 million member milestone this past summer (that’s almost 1/6^th of the world’s population) and Twitter boasts 175 million members, it’s clear to see that social media marketing will continue to dominate the Web 2.0 world.
There’s no denying that social commerce is a critical aspect to any company’s success, be it online or offline. With that in mind, here are the future social media marketing trends that are set to make waves – and possibly even change the way you look at traditional marketing and advertising:

Users already exhibit a great deal of control over their favorite brands via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. However, if you’re not already interacting with your most valuable stakeholders, then it’s time to get on board, as research suggests that social media marketing will become more influenced by feedback from online users.
Social media marketing trends indicate that the most successful business websites will incorporate Web 2.0 sites into their own. This falls in line with research released in 2010, which suggests that over 60% of online users would trust information contained on a social media site over that on a corporate site – even if the information was identical.
Social media marketing trends also suggest that the most successful business campaigns will take place on Web 2.0 platforms like Facebook and Twitter. This research indicates that if you haven’t already made the jump to social media marketing, you could be missing out on a very lucrative slice of online profits.

If you’re ready to stand out as a leader in social media marketing, then these trends should set you up for major success in 2011 and beyond. Are you ready?

Make It a Successful and Profitable Day!

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Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: facebook, Marketing Advertising, Marketing Trends, Media Marketing, online business success, online marketing, social marketing, twitter

Twitter Marketing Tips How to Get Thousands of Followers

September 2, 2011 By Lynn Brown 20 Comments

When it comes to twitter marketing, your success is embedded in your ability to attract thousands of followers to your Twitter profile. However, you don’t need to cross your fingers and hope for the best to get boatloads of followers – just use these Twitter marketing tips and techniques!

Use Short URLS

Want to post a link to your website or blog, but don’t want to waste your valuable character space? Here’s a simple solution: use an online tool to shorten the URL. I like http://bit.ly, since it keeps the history of all the links you shorten, which is a major bonus if you’re a busy online marketer!

Make People Think

Ask powerful and thought-provoking questions. Once your readers start to comment, engage them in conversation – you’ll soon have a Twitter profile filled with great dialogue.

Be a Useful Commenter

Twitter just isn’t a one-way street; if you want people to actively engage with your profile, then you’re going to need to leave thought-provoking comments on other profiles as well. Engage in conversations between yourself, the profile user and other Tweeters. Your comments should interest others, which will lead them directly to your own profile.

Be Informed

If you can, try to find out everything possible about all of your followers. Obviously this is downright impossible if you have thousands of readers, but when you’re first starting out, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with your fans. Find out their interests, likes and dislikes. This can further help you to fine-tune your profile so that your readers can’t go a day without reading your updates.

Now that you have the goods to become a successful Twitter marketing guru, it’s time to claim your title as the social media leader in your niche!

What are you doing to attract and build your Twitter following, please share your ideas below.

Wishing you and your business much Success!

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Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: Followers, Marketing Success, Marketing Techniques, Marketing Tips, online business success, social media, twitter

Social Media News: Twitter Has New Image Photo Feature

August 12, 2011 By Lynn Brown 20 Comments

There it was, a little message from Twitter a couple days ago.

When I started to write a tweet for the day, a little message popped up
about the new Twitter image feature.

Of course I had to check it out. I wanted to share with you how this can be
very helpful to you and for your business.
The example below is a image I created with my JING account. Jing is a wonderful little tool
that sits on my desktop. It is similar to doing a ‘screen shot’ but much, much better.

One of my twitter friends wanted to know how to leave a Linkedin group. I was able to share this image (right) along with a tweet. He was so happy to learn that in almost a split second, that he re-tweeted to his friends. Soon there were more tweets and it spread like wild fire – that is another reason why I like Twitter so much!

So next time you are on Twittergo check out the little image icon. Give it a try. And in fact, send me a TWEET with the image you are sharing, would love to see how everyone gets the hang of this. It really is easy & fun!

Want to learn more about how the Twitter image came to be? CLICK HERE

If you get stuck or not sure how to use this feature, please let me know. I will be happy to help you out.

Wishing you and your business much Success!

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Connect with Lynn Brown – View my profile

Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: Amp, Couple Days, Image Feature, Image Icon, Image Photo, Lynn Brown, Media News, Nbsp, New Image, News Photo, Photo Feature, social media news, Tweet, Tweets, twitter, View My Profile, Wild Fire

Simple Social Media Marketing Tips

August 2, 2011 By Lynn Brown 12 Comments

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Social media marketing is a powerful source in helping your business grow and stay visible.

BUT ….. How do you get results from social media? How do you grow your business with Facebook and Twitter? It’s easier than you might think.

Use these simple social media marketing tips and techniques:

FOLLOWERS & FRIENDS:

Start out by sending follow requests on Twitter and friend requests on Facebook. Get connections on these top social media sites. Increase your fan base to boost your business. Find people you believe might be interested in your business, industry or market niche. For example, if you are in the business of selling jewelry you should find people who are interested in fashion. Send a request to these people with a short introduction to your business.

BE REAL:

Infuse your personality into your social media sites, and make it a friendly space for your friends and followers. They will be more likely want to connect with you and like your business. When you share information, be real, let your personality shine through. Don’t try to be anyone else but you! and… Make it fun.

INTERESTING CONTENT:

Post content that will be shared and liked by your audience. Word of mouth is free, and it is the most effective form of advertising. This is why using social media marketing works so well. It’s all about sharing things with friends. When your content is shared or liked on Facebook and Twitter more readers will come to your page to follow or friend you. It’s a great way to gain more exposure online.

GET INVOLVED & BE POLITE:

Pretend you are face-to-face with your social media network all the time. Never ignore them. Recognize them. A simple thank you goes a long way. Get involved in the conversations going on about your business, or anything related to your business. When someone posts something on your Facebook wall you need to reply in a timely manner. Be friendly and available. Post comments on other people’s Twitter posts, fan pages or blog posts.

These simple social media marketing tips will keep your fan bases growing. Ask for more friends or followers, make it fun, post interesting content, and interact with everyone.

Were these tips helpful? Please add your social media marketing tips and techniques that help your business grow.

Make it a Successful & Profitable day!

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Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: facebook, Fan Base, Followers, market niche, Marketing Techniques, Marketing Tips, social marketing, social media marketing tips, twitter, Word Of Mouth

How Are You Managing Social Media Madness

July 19, 2011 By Lynn Brown 53 Comments

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This is a great time to be an online entrepreneur with the benefit of exploding your business in a fairly quick time because of all the social media sites, right?

Maybe it is just too fast! I have been reading, listening and chatting with others about all the social media sites we are using for our business. The benefits are wonderful to be able to meet so many people within your industry. Connections, relationships and building clients and customers are a huge part of what social media marketing provides.

BUT …. are we getting too many sites? Seems every time you turn around, someone is sending an invite yet to another social site.

I was just reading today an amazing article written by my very good online ebiz associate, Peter Masters, of The MarketingM8 Blog, Social media time management and Google +. Social media satire 19

In the article, Peter starts out saying ”The amount of new social media developments in the news is mind boggling and have you noticed that no one mentions social media being a fad any more?” In fact, he jokes about ‘fad’ being the F word no one is talking about anymore. I believe it is because we are all way too busy trying to keep up with the ‘social media madness’!

He wonders how we all find the time to stay up with these social sites since we all can agree, there are only so many hours in each day. (Read the rest of his article)

I would like to hear your thoughts, ideas and suggestions on how do you manage your social media madness?

Also, please visit my video and give it a like so others may contribute their thoughts over there as well.

0 How Are You Managing Social Media Madness

Wishing you and your business much Success!

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Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: entrepreneur, Google, Linkedin, Media Madness, Media Management, Media Marketing, Peter Masters, social marketing, Time Management, twitter, Youtube

Linkedin Social Media Myth Revealed

June 14, 2011 By Lynn Brown 29 Comments

I call it social media madness! So many social media sites and platforms that can overwhelm even the most experienced online marketing entrepreneur. However, these social sites — like — Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube and have you checked out Empire Avenue yet?!…. have proven to take businesses to the next level.

But there is a social media myth out there that I wanted to reveal. I can’t tell you how many times I hear …. “Linkedin is not for me.”

That is just plain wrong! In fact, if you are not using Linkedin in marketing your business, products or services – then you are leaving money on the table.

Linkedin has been for job seekers and job recruiters. Large and small companies and corporations use Linkedin when finding and recruiting executives. While that is still true today, it is also true that Linkedin provides small online business and entrepreneurs with a huge platform for leveraging knowledge, ideas and opportunities. Linkedin, in my opinion, is the elite social professional site to build your business with high credibility. Build connections, alliances and more important, gain acceptance as an expert in your business. This alone will attract more visitors to you, gain your trust and turn them into customers or clients.

The key to using Linkedin successfully, will be determined on the proper set up of your Linkedin profile. This includes the appropriate keywords, optimization and completeness of your information.

NEW– those of you wanting to gain more knowledge about Linkedin and its tremendous features, should visit and subscribe to my new YouTube channel – Linkedin Marketing Manger. I will be personally sharing lots of tips, info and what I like to call my Linkedin Likes!

Recent comment from one of my online business associates:

“Hi Lynn, I agree with you and being a member of LinkedIn I do see the power in it. My problem is I just don’t spend as much time building relationships there as I should be. Thanks for this video and great reminder that I need to get back there and participate more.” Richard Petrillo – www.workwithrichardp.com

Is there one thing about Linkedin that you would like to know more about? Please share it here ….. thank you!

Filed Under: Linkedin Marketing Tagged With: Credibility, entrepreneur, Gain Acceptance, Job Recruiters, Job Seekers, Linkedin, linkedin marketing, Media Madness, Media Myth, online business success, Optimization, social marketing, twitter, Youtube

Online Business Success – Starts With Building Your List

May 27, 2011 By Lynn Brown 39 Comments

Get them to sign up and stay!

Building your list is one of the first things you do right away when starting your online business. It is also an ongoing process of adding contacts daily to your list. When your visitors sign up or subscribe with you, these are all interested and potential customers or clients which will be important to your online business success and profitability.

FREE EBOOK

One way that you can ‘build your list’ is by offering your visitors valuable information through reports, newsletters or a free ebook. Ebooks have always been popular with everyone since they are digital products that your visitors can have within seconds after signing up with you. They are easy to produce and people are wanting information, especially if it is something like a ‘how to’ or ‘top keys’ that will get them excited to want your free ebook.

AUTORESPONDERS

After they sign up or subscribe, you need a good autoresponder set up. This set up should be a series of emails that will be delivered to your potential customer or client on a continual, consistent basis. These emails should be short but provide lots of good information and value.

Within your series of autoresponder emails, always find a way to link back to your site, your products or services. Never sell to your email list. Especially in your first email, which should be a short introduction and reminder why they signed up or subscribed to you. Then start building a good rapport by providing good content and on occasion suggesting they take a look at your products.

KEEP IT SOCIAL!

Including links to your Facebook page, Twitter, Linked, YouTube and any other social media site that your contacts might be interested in following you is essential. Let them know that they can chat, follow, share and interact with you. Your customers and contacts will love the fact that you are accessible and happy to interact with them.

Key to any list building strategy is always keeping in mind it is about ‘building’ connections. It will take time, but if you do it properly you will not only build a big list but your contacts will turn into customers and want to stay on your list. That should always be the goal.

There are so many creative ways to get people to your list. Please share some of your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.

Here’s to your Online Business Success!

Filed Under: Online Basic Tips Tagged With: Autoresponder, Business Building, Business List, business success, Ebooks, Email List, facebook, Free Autoresponders, free ebook, list building, online business, online business success, Profitability, twitter

Target Market With These 2 Twitter Tools

May 24, 2011 By Lynn Brown 25 Comments

Part of building a successful online business is to continually learn about your target market, your competition and when it comes to Twitter, who is following and who is not!

Twitter has become one of my favorite social media platforms. It is a social site for family and friends, celebrities and politicians, but it is also a huge resource of information for building a successful business!

I stumbled upon these two Twitter tools that I am finding very valuable and wanted to share them with you.

Not only can you find out who is following you (or not) on Twitter, but you can research your target market and your competition. This information is important for understanding your audience, current trends, what others are doing in your market niche and so much more.

FriendorFollow - Find out who is following you, who is not and who are mutual friends!

FollowerWonk - Target Market with your keywords, find other Twitter profiles and more!

My HOW TO VIDEO:

Let me know if you found these tools to be helpful for you and your business. And please, leave your comments below and share this post with others that might find these tools helpful.

Make it a profitable and successful week!

Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: keywords, market niche, Media Platforms, Successful Business, Successful Online Business, target market, target market twitter tools video, twitter, twitter tools, Understanding Your Audience

Want To Know How To Use Twitter For Your Small Business?

March 28, 2011 By Lynn Brown 8 Comments

Recently, Twitter turned 5 years old on March 21, 2011, and is continuing to grow, boasting over 200 millions users.

But how can Twitter be used to promote your small business? Whenever I suggest to my clients that they consider using Twitter to promote their business, most crinkle their nose, wondering why and how Twitter will benefit them and their business.

Here are 5 important reasons why you should be using Twitter to promote your small business:

PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS – This may seem obvious but just how you promote your small business on Twitter is what most business owners have trouble doing.

Think about it as if a customer walked into your brick and mortar store. Wouldn’t you want to make the best impression every? So why not ‘tweet’ about your company and let your audience know your values, benefits of you and your company, special events or even pointing out special awards or promotions.

Tweeting about your company gives it a more of a human face which will bring interest and curiosity for people to want to learn more. Add your link to your site or to your About page and make sure your site is always asking your visitor to take action – whether its leaving a comment or subscribing to your list.

BUILDING CREDIBILITY – The more you discuss goals for your company, the benefits of products or services will provide your customers, the more your visitors will feel comfortable to learning more.

Share insights, opinions and answer customer questions. Tweet links to articles or posts that you find interesting to help your customer understand your market. Let them know when you may have been recognized in your community. Consider recording a welcome video that your visitors will be curious to know more and share that link to your site.

LISTENING TO YOUR AUDIENCE – Twitter is a great research tool. If you spend time just listening to your clients and potential customers by reading tweets in your market niche. What are they saying? What are they wanting? Will give you tremendous about of information to learn more about your customers and be able to recognize their wants and needs.

Listen to your competitors and what they are tweeting about. Follow Twitter trends or hot topics, listen to what people are tweeting about that may affect your business. Get people to offer their opinions or ideas.

GROWING YOUR FOLLOWERS – Finding others to follow is easy when you use Twitter’s search tool. You can search for specific areas such as your home town, county or state. You can search for specific topics, key words or market niche.

Jump into conversations that are relevant to your business or market niche. Participate in the conversation with good content and then ask for them to connect with you on Twitter. Once you build a connection on Twitter, be sure to ask to share your Facebook and Linkedin sites. As you continue to build your social network relationships, suggest guest blogging or sharing links. Others will recognize your connections and will want to start following you based on your interactions with others.

Connect with other experts or professionals in your market niche. Connecting with like minded people that are in similar fields or business is a great way to share business ideas and information.

ADD SOME FUN – It shouldn’t be all boardroom stuffy! Twitter is a great way to share business related jokes, quotes and to share motivation and inspiration. Get out of your marketing shell and be yourself! Your followers will get a better feel for your business personality and will want to connect and interact with you. Share quirky content, comment on new market trends and share funny videos to lift someone’s day. You will be amazed how others will respond and want to connect with you.

How are you using Twitter for your small business? Please share your ideas and comments below …..

Have a productive and successful day!

Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: marketing with twitter, online business success, social networking, twitter, twitter tips

Make Money Online – The 2 Prong Approach

March 11, 2011 By Guest Author 14 Comments

Most make money online posts stress a series of steps to take to prosper from your home.

For newbie online entrepreneurs less is more. Simplification is key. I remember what it was like to receive advice from seasoned online veterans who forgot what is was like to be a newbie.

I was confused. I was lost. I wanted to throw in the towel before I even had a towel to throw.

2 Words: Information Overload. I couldn’t process the information I needed to acquire at a quick enough pace. The end result was a great deal of wheel-spinning.

Forget endless steps. Stick to this basic 2 prong approach to make money online.

Network With Leaders

Network with leaders in your industry. Put their blogs in your Google Reader and consume the information they share.

Your sponsor should hook you up with leaders. If they don’t, run a google search on “blogs” and your niche of choice. For example, “blogs, internet marketing.”

It might take some time to find top shelf blogs but the time spent is worth it. Learn from the leaders, network with the leaders, become a leader.

Network with people in your niche on Facebook and twitter. Share their content. Gain the reputation of being a giver and you will receive.

Your content will be shared and your presence will be leveraged.

Create Consistently

To make money online you must create for others. The formula works like this:

Help people make money by creating content + Network with industry leaders = Make money online

The best way to make money is to help others make money. You can generate prosperous ideas by reading the blogs of niche leaders. The next step is on you.

Start off by writing at least 1 article and blog post per week. Create a video per week. Take notes and practice.

Keep writing. Don’t let a day pass where you don’t write at least a portion of an article or blog post.

Writing becomes easier with practice. Most people who have difficulty writing articles or blog posts never practice. They make excuses as to why they can’t write consistently. Meanwhile the newbie who started from Day 1 became a proficient writer in 2 to 3 months because they practiced each day.

Focus on How To articles but delve into Why To as well. How To articles teach people how to prosper in your niche. Why To articles help provide your readers with a motivating force. Knowing why you should write a certain type of article or build your list can provide the motivation to actually do it.

Your Turn

Do you feel less is more when learning how to make money online? What type of approach do you use?

GUEST AUTHOR: Ryan Biddulph helps you make money online without selling products or recruiting prospects at RBs Keys to Home Based Success

Filed Under: Make Money Online Tagged With: article marketing, article writing, blog, facebook, make money online, market niche, online business success, twitter

Social Media Stats for 2010 – It Just Might Surprise You

January 31, 2011 By Lynn Brown 10 Comments

Are you curious about how Social Media has been progressing over the years? I was, and came across this article that has over 20+ amazing stats that just might surprise you.

Only after six months, there is some impressive and interesting information on how social media has grown.

Jake Hird of Econsultancy.com enjoys compiling information and statistics. He warns that the information is not to sway you in any way to change your marketing strategy.

Here are some of the stats that I found to be interesting:

Facebook claims that 50% of active users log into the site each day. This would mean at least 175m users every 24 hours… A considerable increase from the previous 120m.
Twitter now has 75m user accounts, but only around 15m are active users on a regular basis. It’s still a fair increase from the estimated 6-10m global users from a few months ago.
LinkedIn has over 50m members worldwide. This means an increase of around 1m members month-on-month since July/August last year.
Photo uploads to Facebook have increased by more than 100%. Currently, there are around 2.5bn uploads to the site each month – this was around a billion last time I covered this.
Mobile is even bigger than before for Facebook, with more than 65m users accessing the site through mobile-based devices. In six months, this is over 100% increase. (Previously 30m). As before, it’s no secret that users who access Facebook through mobile devices are almost 50% more active than those who don’t.
The average number of tweets per hour was around 1.3m.
15% of bloggers spend 10 or more hours each week blogging, according to Technorati’s new State of the Blogosphere.
70% of bloggers are organically talking about brands on their blog.
38% of bloggers post brand or product reviews.

Click here for the full list of stats and the rest of the article….

Please leave your comments – let’s hear how social media is helping your online business. Maybe we can come up with some stats of our own!

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Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: blogging, facebook, social media stats, social networking, twitter

10 Ways to Awesome Online Advertising

January 16, 2011 By Lynn Brown 2 Comments

Many of you are telling me, “Hey Lynn, you provide great information
BUT give us some examples of ‘where and how’ we can market and advertise“.

So I’m going to share my 10 Ways to Awesome Online Advertising!

Here we go …..

1) FaceBook – Yup! Facebook is a great place for advertising. It is
similar to Google Adwords. BUT, FaceBook lets you choose the
people or demographic you want to target, it is very cool! I suggest you
start out with a low budget and test one or two ads.

2) Blog Banner Ads – Some online guru’s will tell you that Banner
Ads are old and no one gets sales from them. Well I am here to tell
you they are wrong. Because they do work. Once again, you have to
have the right keywords and remember – never SELL through your
advertising. You want to ‘entice’ your potential customers to want to
come and see what you have. Check out: www.blogads.com

3) Twitter – You will find that Twitter is becoming more and more of
an online marketing tool than you would think. It is a great way to let others
know about affiliate products or services you are promoting.

4) Forums/Message Boards – Visit forums or message boards that
pertain to your market niche. Establish yourself by commenting on other posts.
Then slowly start introducing what you are doing and how others can help you out.
There are specific rules for each forum, so be sure to follow them. Your signature
line is where you will ‘market’ your website, blog and affiliate products.

5) Rent Email Lists - You can find these lists through local and national news
sites. You want lists pertaining to your market niche and demographic. But it
is a good way to quick start your business if you don’t have an email list to
market to.

6) Video Marketing – Right now videos are a hot marketing tool. And I believe
it will only get more important to market your business and products through videos.
I can recommend a couple awesome sites where you could make a video without a
camcorder! Go to Animoto …. you can get an account for free, but I highly suggest
that you pay the $30 bucks for the Pro version. That way you are not limited to only
30 seconds. And the Pro version will automatically upload to YouTube. I also like
Screenr – both these sites lets you make videos without a camcorder! And remember
to take the link of the videos you make and put them on Twitter, FaceBook, My Space,
you get the point! Just keep the video fun, interesting and creating attraction for people
to click on your link!

7) Writing/Submitting Articles – I am finding this to be one of the best ways
to get your name and your website out to mass amount of people. Write 10 – 15
500 word articles and submit them to the article directories (www.EZinearticles.com)
is one great place to start. And if you don’t have the time or don’t like to write! then
this is a task that can be outsourced. Articles must include your keywords and
be relavant to your market niche.

8) Back Links – It is so important to have links associated with your site. So
link exchanges are highly important and is becoming something Google is really
starting to look at in ranking your website. So start looking for higher page ranked
sites that pertain to your market niche and ask them to link exchange with you.

9) Email Marketing Campaigns – If you don’t have a list yet, this isn’t something
you would be doing, of course. But those that already have potential contacts, a good
email marketing campaign will be key. It can also be good to prepare your contacts for
future products you are working on to keep their interest.

10) Free Ads – There are many sites around the internet that will offer space to submit
an ad to sell, market or explain your product for free. Free ads are another great way
to get the word out about you, your products, services and this can be done with no
expense, just your time. Start out with www.USFreeAds.com

Well I could actually go on and on with more ideas and ways to market, advertise and
sell products, websites, and services.

Be creative, and select only a couple of these ideas at first. Test them out. Be sure
you keep track of how your ads or marketing plan is working from day to day.
After a few weeks, you may decide one way you are marketing is just not working for you.
That’s ok – pick something else and test that!

I know this is a lot of information on this visit — Since many of you asked, I wanted to
deliver!

Please leave your ideas, thoughts and comments or share any other advertising methods that have been successful for you.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, Online Basic Tips Tagged With: affiliate marketing, article marketing, email marketing, facebook, online marketing, twitter, video marketing

Entrepreneurial Food For Thought or where to start?

January 12, 2011 By Guest Author 7 Comments

Guest Author: Donna Thomas

Oh the lists, long, detailed, technical, but I digress…let’s start at the beginning…

Well, like so many of you, I got extremely tired of being pushed around, watching my job responsibilities expand, my pay decrease and my job security disappear. So I did a little reading and looked around the web and decided, why not, if the numerous 20 year olds out there making a decent income online can do it why not me?

So I jumped in, feet first, to learn, acquire and slay that dragon of entrepreneurial know how to make my first 6 figure income pay check. I enrolled in several programs, affiliate marketing, list building, video marketing etc, etc. While all of these provided valuable content, I reached a point after several months when my head was ready to explode… what to do first, where should I invest my time, resources, efforts, money… ???

Ok, everyone agreed I needed a presence, i.e. branding. Best place to do that, yep you got it the third largest country in the world, Facebook! So off I went Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google. Built the profiles and put in my hobbies, jobs, education…all they asked for. Added my email list to all of them. Now what? Ok another class on social media marketing, build that list, add friends, and attract them by posting valuable content. Check, check and double check.

Must have a blog, it’s your home, the place where everyone will get to know who you are and what you are about. Ahhhh, but now that means you have to post valuable content and what do you want to post and where will you get the new fresh ideas about that content? More to add to the “to do” list!

Twitter, don’t forget to tweet and retweet, check your replies, respond to your messages. Ah but don’t overlook how valuable video marketing can be it will improve your SEO and get you on top in Google. Next, make some videos, talk about your product, and add content. Once you create your channel in YouTube make sure you are checking for responses. Post those videos at multiple sites and get a video distribution site. Check out traffic geyser, tweet meme, social oomph, jing, bit.ly, tweet deck, mashable, and on and on and on…

But when the dust clears and you have spent several thousand dollars at a minimum and hours, no days of reading, no wrong again, weeks examining and testing and listening are you any further ahead. Well, I would say yes, it’s all part of the learning curve in acquiring the skills, expertise, and knowledge needed to develop a presence/brand online.

However I would add one little bit of advice as you approach that dragon, don’t go alone. Find a coach, mentor, knowledgeable expert to clear the trail on your path, someone who has a proven track record and can guide and support you along your voyage. In fact, create a tribe of supportive experts that have the capabilities to forge ahead. Besides who wants to eat dragon alone?

Wishing you the very best on your quest for success in your online marketing campaign but please talk to a person who can lead you along the trek to six figure triumph!

Best wishes and have fun on your journey, Donna Thomas

Filed Under: Internet Marketing, Online Basic Tips Tagged With: blog, entrepreneur, facebook, internet marketing, make money online, online business success, twitter

Social Networking – Is it working for you?

January 7, 2011 By Lynn Brown 6 Comments

Remember ‘back in the day’ when you came home from work and saw that flashing light on your phone. It was a message! Maybe it was from your mom or a friend, but it was fun to listen to their messages.

Today, fast forward, we have what is now called Social Networking. This is the most popular way to communicate with family and friends. You can send messages to people that live in other states or miles away to countries around the globe. Sharing today’s moments, inspirations, activities, photos, interesting links, videos and so on.

It is the biggest craze since the telephone was first discovered!

And now, Social Networking is actually becoming a wonderful marketing tool. It is a great way to ‘indirectly” let others know that you have a business, product or service.

Remember though these are Social Networks and nobody wants to be SOLD to. So then you say . . . WHAT?!!

How can this be a marketing tool if I can’t SELL? The quick answer to that is – you should never sell to anyone! Today’s marketing is all about building relationships. Let people find out who YOU are and then they will venture on to see what you might have to offer. Creating that relationship will bring you success over and over again.

The days are gone when you could knock on some ones door and say ‘would you please buy my latest product’ – Today you will probably get the door slammed in your face.

Consider this ….. a well thought out and implemented social network will knock on doors for you through the internet. The number of doors you can knock on each day can be hundreds to thousands! This gives you a greater opportunity to meet more people in a shorter time period. And why is that important? Time is money …. and your marketing efforts through social networking will start actually paying you an income!

The top 3 social media sites you should focus on, in my opinion, would be FaceBook, Twitter and Linkedin also with a good business blog that will act as your ‘hub’.

So when you decide to build your social network, join FaceBook, Twitter and Linkedin or any other of the Social Media sites you may choose — just remember to keep it ‘social’ and low key. Share some interesting & helpful information, build a relationship, friendship that can later work into being the right time to share your business, product or service.

How many social media sites is your business connected to and how are they helping your business?

Filed Under: Social Networking Tagged With: facebook, internet marketing, Linkedin, social networking, twitter

Quick 3 Tips for Getting Started on Twitter

December 14, 2010 By Lynn Brown 4 Comments

To Tweet or Not To Tweet ….. that is the question!For many of you reading this you might feel overwhelmed when it comes to understanding Twitter and how it can help you to build your online business success.

Twitter Bird1 150x150 Quick 3 Tips for Getting Started on Twitter

Twitter for Your Business

Answer the following questions

Are you building or growing an online business?
Looking to brand awareness for your business, product or service?
Selling other peoples products as an Affiliate Marketer?
Want another way to expose your online business to potential clients?
Been trying to generate more traffic to your site?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, well then, you should know that Twitter will be a huge benefit to you and your business.

Understanding Twitter and how you use it will give you confidence to include Twitter in your social media networking strategies.

So how do you get on Twitter, set up an account and start tweeting about your business?

Here is my quick 1 – 2 – 3 Get Started Now Tips:

Setting Up Your Twitter Account

When you post something on Twitter it is called a “tweet”. Tweets are limited to only 140 characters. This keeps the communications short and to the point. Unlike other social media sites where you can almost write a novel to send to your clients or potential clients. In today’s hurry up society, short messages are generally more desirable.

An important area to spend time on is your profile. Twitter keeps your profile ‘bio’ limited to only 160 characters (including spaces). Keeping your bio short, direct, interesting and eye catching is key.

The location field in your profile might be really important to your business, products or services so be sure to enter the city and state or country.

Your profile picture should represent you or your company. So a business photo of you or the founder of the company, the company logo or symbol is the first visual impression your visitors will see.

Finding Your Twitter Friends and Clients

Just like most other social media sites, you are able to add your email lists to Twitter. Then send an invite to your friends and current clients letting them know you are now on Twitter and you would appreciate them following you.

Another way to find potential clients or business partners is to use the Twitter search box. Enter keywords that describe your client’s needs, products or services within your industry. Then scroll through the list of tweets looking for people asking for help or discussing things about your industry. By clicking on their name you will go to their profile page. You can decide if it is someone that you would like to get to know or start communicating with.

When you do find a potential client or another business professional within your industry, you can go ahead and follow them. Then send them an @ (at message) complimenting them on their profile or offering an answer to their question. And always ask for a follow back. They will see your message and if they reply, this is the time to answer back and build a relationship.

Tweeting Your Messages

Now that you have followers – send them updates, messages and other information to keep them engaged with you and your company. Of course, never spam or send so many updates and messages that your clients will start ‘unfollowing’ you. Remember that social networking is an opportunity for you to build relationships and not to pester or plead for business.

Your messages can include links to your website, blog, videos and any other social media sites. It is a great way to quickly let your followers know you added a new video, offering a new product or you just posted a great article. And to keep your followers engaged, include an action statement requesting that your followers leave a comment, share their ideas and suggestions.

You are right if you are thinking that fully understanding Twitter and how it works takes time and effort. It has taken me many months to build up followers and building relationships that are producing results. Nothing happens over night, but I enjoy, and hope you will too, the process of getting to know others and how working together builds a stronger business.

Twitter is a social media site that continues to help online business stay engaged with current clients, collaborates with potential partners and grows new client contacts. Your social networking strategies should include setting up a Twitter account, along with plans to engage with your Twitter followers on a regular basis. Your efforts will be rewarded with yet another way to increase the potential for profits through the awareness Twitter will bring.

Do you have a Twitter account or will you get your account started today? Please leave me your comments and if you wish to ask questions or discuss how Twitter can work for you, let me know.

TWITTER BASICS – Step by Step Video to set up your Twitter account

Filed Under: Social Networking, Twitter Tagged With: social networking, twitter, twitter basics

LinkedIn Endorsement

New And Easy To Use LinkedIn Endorsement Feature

“Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.” ~ Sally Koch (click to tweet)

What Is Endorsement Marketing?

Top 3 Effective Methods Of Endorsement Marketing
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LinkedIn:

Twitter or Facebook:

Offline Promotion:

Why Do You Want More Twitter Followers

The question of this post might surprise you. After all, everyone wants more Twitter followers – it shows that you’re a powerful Twitter user, with plenty of people who are eager to see updates from you.
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But that doesn’t necessarily answer the question – and if you want to be a successful online marketer, you need to answer that question.
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So as a successful online marketer, why do you want more Twitter followers? It’s about so much more than seeing those follower ‘numbers’ grow in leaps and bounds – it’s about knowing what to do with those followers once you have them.
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With that in mind, it’s time to come up with a list of reasons why you started using Twitter in the first place. As an example, here’s what my list looks like:
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This list could go on, but the point here is this: once I know precisely what I want to do with Twitter, I’ll have a better idea of what to do with my followers. That in turn gives me a better answer to the question, “Why do I want more Twitter followers?”
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Once you define what your Twitter goals are, you’ll have a better idea of what you should tweet – and your Twitter account will start to become more accurately aligned with the overall goals of your online marketing business.
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I would like to hear from you … why do you want more Twitter followers? Please add to my list and leave your comments below.
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Is Follow Friday Hurting Your Online Marketing Efforts

A topic that has been going around for a while now ….
The pros and cons – here is my take.
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However, in recent months, there’s no denying that Follow Friday has become extremely popular, if not overused altogether. Many online marketers are comparing it to Twitter spam, as it’s far too easy for people to blatantly plug other people and services with just the stroke of a few keys.
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So what do you think? Do you think the Follow Friday fad is over? Or are there better ways to recommend other Twitter profiles to your followers?
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Target Market With These 2 Twitter Tools

My HOW TO VIDEO: