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It's well known that search engine optimization (SEO) is vital to the success of any business web site. But online social media is on the rise and is becoming a powerful means for promoting businesses. The fundamental difference between social media and traditional advertising or public relations is the ability to have a dialogue with your customers. Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, YouTube, and others are changing the online marketing landscape. Internet social media is now a tool used by businesses who truly want to enhance brand identity and attract more customers. We can lead you down the right path for leveraging online social media to compliment your current marketing strategies.

Social media is truly becoming a force on the Internet, as is evident by these statistics recently compiled by Pingdom:

126 million – The number of blogs worldwide on the Internet.
Over 500 million – Number of people on Facebook.
50% – Percentage of Facebook users that log in every day.
30 billion – The number of photos uploaded to Facebook each year.
500,000 – The number of active Facebook applications.
30 years + – The fastest growing demographic on Facebook.
27.3 million – Number of tweets on Twitter per day.
57% – Percentage of Twitter’s user base located in the United States.
8% – Percentage of Twitter’s shared URLs that are links to videos on YouTube.

Simply stated, you can connect with your customers on Facebook. Through a business Facebook Page, users can show their support by becoming a fan, writing on your Wall, and other actions that automatically generate a buzz about your business. There are an array of ways to use a social media site, like Facebook, for promoting your business. For instance: have a complete business profile (services, hours, location, link to business web site); install appropriate applications to integrate feeds from your blog and other social media accounts into your Facebook profile; post professional photos of your office; post newsletter subscription information; obtain a Facebook vanity URL and include it in your e-mail signature line along with your web site address; post business updates on your wall; share useful articles and links that interest customers and prospects to establish credibility; post discounts and specials; use "Facebook Connect" to add social networking features to your business web site; and, post upcoming events.

IMPORTANT: A social networking site should never replace a quality business web site designed specifically to promote your business. Online social media should be a supplementary option to your already existing web site, with your social media profiles pointing to your business site. If you are in need of a business web site, we offer professional web site development services.
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Looking at the popular YouTube.com web site statistics, it's clear that video sharing is also popular:

1 billion – The total number of videos YouTube serves in one day.
12.2 billion – Videos viewed per month on YouTube in the US.
182 – The number of online videos the average Internet user watches in a month (USA).
82% – Percentage of Internet users that view videos online (USA).
39.4% – YouTube online video market share (USA).
81.9% – Percentage of embedded videos on blogs that are YouTube videos.

Using YouTube as the main storage for business videos and webinars is a great way to generate content without incurring any new costs on your webserver. Having your own channel on YouTube makes it easy for users to subscribe to your videos – meaning potential customers will be notified every time you post a new video. It's important to make your business "searchable" by fully customizing your account and your channel. Stocking your profile with relevant keywords is important as well as targeting your customer base by defining your account "type." By properly categorizing and "tagging" your business videos on the YouTube site, more users will be driven to your content. However, sending a visitor to your YouTube Channel via a link on your business web site in order to view your videos is not what you want to do. If you "embed" the video into your web site and/or business blog by using the HTML code provided by YouTube, then people can play the video right on your site.

One of YouTube's useful tools is its social networking capacity. By participating in the YouTube community, sending out E-mail bulletins when you post a new video and basically promoting your business – you can increase your traffic. So, why is video becoming so popular for promoting businesses? Video simply engages people in a way that static text and images cannot. There are dozens of studies that show the power of video to boost customer interaction, drive sales, encourage viral sharing, and build brand awareness. And according to MarketingSherpa, 95% of the companies that have used online video marketing are happy with the results and expect to use it again in the future. What types of videos should your business post on YouTube? There are several possibilities, such as: marketing videos, event videos, sales videos, help desk videos, and more. We can help you get started so that your business can leverage the power of YouTube for increasing traffic to your web site as well as getting your business more widely known. Contact us today!

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