Tutorial Blog » Business

Twitter Advertising: How to Get Promoted on Twitter

Barbara Holbrook — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:00:25 +0000

After years with no clear path to monetization, Twitter now offers three different methods for advertising or “promoting” your business: Promoted Accounts, Promoted Trends, and Promoted Tweets. Which service is right for you will vary depending on the type of campaign you’re planning. Do you want to acquire followers? Build buzz around a new product? Or, just spread your message as far as possible through the Twittersphere?

The first step is understanding how Twitter’s Promoted advertising works and the benefits of each service. Once you know how Twitter can promote your business, you will be able to choose the best strategy for your social media campaign. So, let’s begin with an overview of each type of Twitter Promotion. (...)
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How Can a Marketer Take Advantage of Facebook’s New Send Dialog?

FletcherT — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:00:52 +0000

Back in April, Facebook rolled out the Send button, a function that provided a simple and direct way for users to privately share content through the platform. Though it has not garnered as much attention as the Like button, this feature can be viewed a huge success considering that the social network says it has already been installed on more than 100,000 sites. Nearly two months later, Facebook has followed up the Send button with a new feature called Send Dialog. In this article, we will discuss the feature in more detail and explain how a marketer can take advantage of the Send Dialog to engage their audience. (...)
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Design Creative Holiday Gifts for Your Clients

Julie Lewis — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:20:59 +0000

As a freelancer, you are in charge of everything—from invoicing and collections to fun stuff like giving yourself an annual bonus. So, when it comes to giving holiday gifts to your clients, the choice is entirely yours. On the one hand, most clients don’t expect to receive gifts from small vendors or independent contractors. On the other hand, unexpected extras are a great way to remind your clients why they love you.

Just one note of caution: Don’t fall into the trap of “promotional gifts.” Nobody wants to receive a gift that is an obvious gimmick. Steer clear of the cheap and cheesy. This means: No refrigerator magnets; No desk calendars with your logo on the front; and by all means, please, no plastic letter openers. These things aren’t gifts they’re marketing. I’m not saying that promotional gifts don’t have their place, we all love free schwag, but holiday gifts shouldn’t scream “Look at me!”

Instead, give your clients something that shows how creative you can be without looking like an advertisement—in other words, something they’ll appreciate that won’t wind up in the garbage the minute after they open it. Here are some unique gift ideas for clients to spark your imagination. (...)
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Sync Your Life: Great Tools to Sync, Backup and Store your Files

Derek Walter — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:00:20 +0000

You probably remember that one time when you really needed a copy of that spreadsheet for the meeting; only to realize it was sitting on your hard drive at home. Or the time you wrote up that great list of ideas and forgot to e-mail it to yourself.

If you use multiple devices for computing, the good news is these potential hazards can be avoided. There are now some great online tools to keep your files, notes, and other essential data synced between your desktop, laptop, and mobile phone.

Here are some suggestions for Getting your Digital Life in Sync.
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Freelancers: Invoice your clients

Oli — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:00:09 +0000

Create invoices and manage account receivables online using one of these 9 web apps. You’ll save time and maybe even earn more money.

The ability to successfully run a freelance design business, requires more than just graphic skills. You’ll need to know how to drum up business, manage competing demands and perhaps most importantly how to get paid.

As a freelancer, choosing the right invoice software can make your job easier. These web apps can create invoices online, track payments, and more. Many offer a free trial, others are completely free. All you need now is determine which online invoice software works best for you.

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Target Your Marketing Campaign with Facebook Ads

Barbara Holbrook — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:00:29 +0000

Facebook ads are quickly becoming the top choice for targeted online ad campaigns. Whether your goal is lead generation, sales, or improving brand recognition, a targeted campaign will always have better results.

Google Adwords used to be the king of online ad campaigns because they can target users based on their current search priorities. Facebook ads are the next generation of targeted text ads.

Learn how to get started and why you should create a Facebook ad. (...)
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5 Ways to Prevent Social Media Disaster

Spencer Spellman — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

As the NFL season kicks off in the U.S., I’m just waiting for this year’s top end zone celebration to be someone pulling an iPhone out of their pants and sending out a tweet or updating their Facebook status with a misplaced comment that reveals the team’s new playbook.

Social media continues to pop up in unexpected places. But, what’s wildly entertaining for us, could be considered disaster to an NFL team. In fact to prevent loose lips (or careless keyboarding), the NFL has created strict social media guidelines for players on game day.

The popularity of social media, has caused many disasters for corporations around the globe including(...)
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How to Measure Success in Social Media Part Two

Spencer Spellman — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:00:03 +0000

Last week I discussed how as a company or a business you can measure success with social media marketing. I stressed the importance of choosing the right metrics (ie: click-through-rates not twitter followers) and suggested some software that could help.

Today I’m going to get into more specific ways you can measure social media success. (...)
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Top 5 SEO Plugins for Joomla

Spencer Spellman — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:00:54 +0000

Anyone who runs a successful website knows the value of search engine optimization. A good SEO tool kit can turn a good website into a profitable website by attracting the right kind of targeted traffic.

But, how do you SEO a CMS site such as Joomla? With Joomla Extensions! Extensions is term used to refer to any number of Joomla components, modules and plugins.

If you have a Joomla website, you’re going to want to make sure that you’ve properly optimized it for search engines and have the appropriate SEO tools in place.

Below I’ve listed the top five SEO extensions for Joomla. (...)
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How to Track and Measure Success in Social Media

Spencer Spellman — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:00:49 +0000

Social media is one of the biggest buzzwords of 2009. You can’t even turn on the news without hearing terms like tweet, poke, event invitation, or profile wall. We see it in commercials, on billboards and even celebrities, athletes and government officials are using it.

While a select few — Guy Kawasaki — have learned how to harness and monetize their social media status, many companies are still looking for ways to use social media to make sales, broaden their reach and grow their company.

As more and more companies begin to use social media marketing, this question follows, “How do you measure social media success?” (...)
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