@BasilPuglisi

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small business

Boosting Revenue with Social Media

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For many marketing companies, management of corporate or small business level social media has become a full-time endeavor. For this reason it can be vital to learn what impact your efforts are actually having on your brand awareness. Gaining this knowledge will help you to understand what it may take to boost your business’s bottom line.

The Noisy Social Media Environment

Social media networks are busy places. Once a user has built up a large friend or fan following, the information can stream by at light speed. There are plenty of opportunities to place ads to garner that extra attention from those who may not be able to meticulously pick through their social media networks information, but still scan it for an overall idea of what the internet world had to offer today.

In a recent release of a study by the Adobe Digital Marketing Team, some statistics may have shown why consumers and businesses may not be benefiting from social media like they could.

  • 36% of tweets with valuable content are swallowed by a more boring majority.
  • 37% of those who do use social media networks say that the ads they see are not very useful.
  • 63% of social community managers spend more than 30 hours per week.
  • 26% spent 41 to 50 hours on their community administration and management.

Account proliferation seems to contribute to the overload currently experienced on social media networks. The Adobe study showed that many companies with over 1,000 employees, had an average of 178 social media network accounts. Not only can this clog up the networks, but it can also make full brand analytics rather difficult to test in some cases. Many social marketers also report that they feel they lack resources. Many of those also reporting that they often struggle to measure ROI, which ironically, does not help for getting new resources.

Measuring Social Success

There are obviously many business, large and small who are utilizing their Facebook fan pages to great benefit for their businesses and brands. Facebook and YouTube both have emerged as leaders in social marketing successes. These two market leaders dwarf their competition with an unparalleled critical difference in terms of time spent by users on those sites.

The study also showed that recommendations from other social users can affect the level of enjoyment a possible consumer may feel about a video.  When it comes to websites and content, the study also showed that users tend to stay logged in more than twice as long when doing so with social plug-ins.

Many other social networking and social media statistics found in the study can also be vital to understanding how to implement

Social sharing increases email click-throughs

CTR without sharing shows up around 26%.

  • Twitter – 5.0%
  • Facebook – 5.4%
  • LinkedIn – 9.6%

People use social networks to find local business

In 2008 4% of consumers reported they used social networking sites to find local business.

  • 2009 –  7%
  • 2010 – 9%
  • 2011 – 15%

Social Drives Sales but Faces Perception Challenges

During a self-assessment of women’s marketplace influence, 73% of young adult women described themselves as influential information sources. It also showed that orders that come in via social media networks are commonly larger than those through more traditional digital means such s email, search engines, or even ad displays. In the same realm, the study showed that social sharing can actually trickle down to orders. A quarter of online shoppers who shop at least quarterly, and log into their Facebook accounts at least once a month have made purchases based on a social recommendation.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

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Customer Engagement for Small Business

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Telling business owners that they need to have some plans for customer engagement is easy. However, once they have absorbed that tidbit of helpful information, many may be lost as to what customer engagement can actually entail. Most likely, there is nothing that you in particular are selling, that can’t be found somewhere else. So what can the small business owner do to show that their product is the right choice for the consumer?

Be a Customer for a Day

Spend a day emulating the actions that your prospective consumers do.

  1. Call your customer service number.
  2. Go through the motions of purchasing your own product.
  3. Fill out your contact forms.

Make sure that your customer experience matches your outlook and ideas.

Build Communication Options

Not everyone uses Facebook and Twitter believe it or not. Make sure you have traditional methods of communication as well as digital ones. List phone numbers and a physical address for your business, even if it is online based.

Exercise and Act on Your Listening Skills

c/o www.retailshakennotstirred.com

It isn’t enough to reply to customers questions or request with generic terms. When prospective consumers ask for discounts or other beneficial options, show them you are listening by enacting them. You will get no better word of mouth advertising then having a consumer who can say “I asked for a discount, and they gave me one!” This doesn’t mean you have to offer that discount to everyone who asks, but you should never outright ignore those request.

Show Your Integrity

Since bad news can travel with light speed on the internet, you may need to go out of your way to show your customers that not only are you expert at what you do, but that you back that professionalism with personal integrity. Show your customers that the people behind the brand care.

Let Your Customers Advertise for You

Anything that you can do to get your consumers to share their product or service experiences with the public will provide you with two benefits. Obviously it will give you the valuable advertising you are seeking, but it will also provide you with media that you can post to help build top-notch links for your site. Don’t expect your customers to do this for no reward though. Their time is valuable too. Try to run contest for the best written or video reviews of your project. Reward the winners appropriately for their time spent talking about your products and services.

Above all it is important that any consumers approaching you for your products or services walk away with the sense that you are a brand they can trust and rely on.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

Inbound Marketing Summit NYC 2012 – 3 Important Tips to Take Home

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Image c/o http://inboundmarketingsummit.com/event/new-york/

If you had the opportunity to sit in on the panels at the Inbound Marketing Summit in New York this year, you likely took away a few vital lessons that you can carry to your business. The conference itself has evolved over the last few years. It has held a focus on social marketing strategies, but has also begun a swift evolution to cover other vital elements such as social TV, touch screen devices, and mobile marketing, as well as defining what these technological shifts really mean for professionals utilizing engagement skills and strategies.

While many interesting points were made, there were absolutely three great highlights that every small business owner should consider when focusing on social media and fan engagement.

Social Media Advertising

Most social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and even LinkedIn have opportunities for advertising at relatively affordable prices. While businesses are building and managing their content in order to break through valuable channels to achieve better engagement, they are finding that advertising can be easy when it is placed where people are hanging around the most. With the many Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn stats we are familiar with when it comes to time spent on social networks these days, there is no doubt that although more affordable than many other types of digital or traditional advertising, they are still highly effective. The IMS panels recommended trying this out on your Facebook Fan page since it is significantly easier to build an audience there.

Responding and Engaging

Image c/o http://socialmarketingfella.com/

You have heard it before here at DBMEI, it is not enough to simply create formats for your consumers to interact with, you actually have to be responsive, and in a relatively short period of time for maximum engagement opportunities. Business owners can either use a team to ensure engagement in a timely manner, or they can use alerts and other monitoring programs to ensure their consumers or prospective customers are given responses before too much time has passed. They should also not wait until there is an issue to engage, even if a visitor just stops by to post or praise your products and services, give them a swift thanks a Like, and a special coupon code when at all possible. Make interactivity on your social media platforms a source of mutual positive reinforcement when at all possible.

Have a Plan

Business owners need to have a plan. You shouldn’t be rolling over, firing up the computer, and tapping your fingers until the content idea comes to you. You need a lot more of a forecasted plan than that. Using a social media editorial calendar can be a helpful way to pre-plan and map out topics so that they are optimized for distribution, coverage, and of course engagement. You should know ahead of time, aside from breaking or important trending news, what type of content will be created and when it will be set for distribution. Knowing your audience and what type of content they can appreciate, combined with a social media editorial calendar will help business owners to better manage engagement with current or potential consumers.

Many other vital points arose that are also swiftly becoming crucial elements in business marketing such as tablets and social TV and their respective places in a full-bodied marketing campaign. Since Americans still watch around 35 hours of TV per week, many now on touch screen devices and tablets, marketing professionals now need to begin to consider how to capture an audience’s attention across multiple devices simultaneously.

However, it is also important to recall that another lesson from IMS included understanding user behavior over in-depth knowledge about emerging technologies.

Author:

@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.

Sources:

Customer Engagement for Small Business

by Leave a Comment

Telling business owners that they need to have some plans for customer engagement is easy. However, once they have absorbed that tidbit of helpful information, many may be lost as to what customer engagement can actually entail. Most likely, there is nothing that you in particular are selling, that can’t be found somewhere else. So what can the small business owner do to show that their product is the right choice for the consumer?

Be a Customer for a Day

Spend a day emulating the actions that your prospective consumers do.

  1. Call your customer service number.
  2. Go through the motions of purchasing your own product.
  3. Fill out your contact forms.

Make sure that your customer experience matches your outlook and ideas.

Build Communication Options

Not everyone uses Facebook and Twitter believe it or not. Make sure you have traditional methods of communication as well as digital ones. List phone numbers and a physical address for your business, even if it is online based.

Exercise and Act on Your Listening Skills

It isn’t enough to reply to customers questions or request with generic terms. When prospective consumers ask for discounts or other beneficial options, show them you are listening by enacting them. You will get no better word of mouth advertising then having a consumer who can say “I asked for a discount, and they gave me one!” This doesn’t mean you have to offer that discount to everyone who asks, but you should never outright ignore those request.

Show Your Integrity

Since bad news can travel with light speed on the internet, you may need to go out of your way to show your customers that not only are you expert at what you do, but that you back that professionalism with personal integrity. Show your customers that the people behind the brand care.

Let Your Customers Advertise for You

Anything that you can do to get your consumers to share their product or service experiences with the public will provide you with two benefits. Obviously it will give you the valuable advertising you are seeking, but it will also provide you with media that you can post to help build top-notch links for your site. Don’t expect your customers to do this for no reward though. Their time is valuable too. Try to run contest for the best written or video reviews of your project. Reward the winners appropriately for their time spent talking about your products and services.

Above all it is important that any consumers approaching you for your products or services walk away with the sense that you are a brand they can trust and rely on.

Sources:

Tumblr VS WordPress

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According to statistic reports, as of January 2011, the 4 year old site Tumblr.com has 20,873,182 users. For the same period WordPress.com, the older site (by 4 years), announced they have 20,787,904 websites powered by wordPress.com

This is the first time anybody overtook WordPress.com, and it became kind of big news among the blogosphere. To set the record straight, it is important to note that WoldPress.com numbers do not include the open sourced blog platform WoldPress.org, where people have websites they host themselves. The comparison is between the two hosting blog platforms only.

Still, it is clear that many individuals have been signing with Tumblr more than they have been signing with WordPress.com. Which one is better? Well, that depends on why you want a site or a blog and what you want to include in it.

What do they have in common?

  • Both are free.
  • Each site has free themes which can be easily installed.
  • Both can be customized.
  • Both can be updated from any computer or device that has internet connection.
  • Both allow you to name your page the way you choose.
  • Both are well known and popular, with good reputation.
  • Both have export capabilities. If you want to move your site, you can.
  • Both allow importing content from other content management systems.

Tumblr

Ease of use –

  • No installation or configuration of the program on your computer is needed.
  • User friendly dashboard
  • Easy upload of multimedia files
  • Custom designs (which do require payment) are cheaper on Tumblr than on WordPress
  • Easy to update from a mobile device
  • Has a built in community functions that allows following like-minded bloggers, reblogging what they wrote and “liking” it, which makes Tumblr a more community oriented site.

Functionality –

  • The server cannot be controlled by the user; it has to be hosted by the site. However, you can use a unique url that does not include .tumblr at the end.
  • The user has complete control over the content and can move his site or blog to another platform.

Design and customization

  • Has one basic layout and it must be applied to every page on the site. They now added page support to make the navigation between pages much easier.
  • Supports only 3rd party calendars and contacts, but it requires knowledge in coding.

Social Integration –

  • Built in. You can post and link to twitter automatically. You can also connect it to your Facebook page.

WordPress

Ease of use –

  • Downloading their program is necessary, but it offers many more options and settings.
  • The design and functionality of the page is more cumbersome and requires some learning.
  • Allows multiple pages, download of plug-ins, widgets and sidebars.

Functionality –

  • With WordPress.com the user has to use their server.  WordPress.org supports sites hosted by another server.
  • The site can be easily expanded to replace the current site.
  • People who have not designed the site but have administrative rights can post on the site without much effort.

Design and customization –

  • Many page layout options.
  • Ability to use different layouts for different pages.
  • Allows including native calendars and contact forms.

Social integration –

  • Can be done with the help of plug-ins.
  • WordPress.com has publisize allowing for sharing with Facebook Pages, Twitter, Yahoo, etc..

The ongoing consensus among experts is that Tumblr is more user friendly, fun and easy to blog. Its design is slick and simple, modern and big. It is geared more toward pictures and media than WordPress.

Both can be customized but WordPress is more extensive and flexible. If you don’t need an extensive e commerce site with forms, listings, heavy content and advertising, Tumblr is simpler.

But the biggest difference is in the ease of social integration on Tumblr that is built in, while it has to be added to WordPress.com with different plug-ins. Tumblr functions as a cross between a website and a Facebook profile, while WordPress is more dry and functional.

Some companies in entertainment, news and fashion have blogs through Tumblr. The Washington Post Innovations, Newsweek, The Huffington Post and Rolling Stones are some examples. Musicians and photographer seem to flock to Tumblr as well.

WordPress.com hosts sites of top brands like CNN, National football league and TED.

Sources:

Is Google Plus (G+) the key in the transition to Web 3.0

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A Google account has become the most powerful tool that any entrepreneur or small business owner could ever hope for. While Google’s general public brand has been tied to Search, Google has been building a monopoly that can and will change the shape of business, politics, and education forever. In fact, Google is Web 3.0!

Google has many, many tools and products in its offering, most of which are free! If you have not taken the time to look around I suggest you spend a few minutes and start to familiarize yourself with them, they will save or make you A LOT OF MONEY!!!

Google recently made a few updates, but the top bar has been around for longer than most realize, it is in this bar that Google is writing the book on Web 3.0.

What is it that makes Google such a force? Why is Google Plus or G+ such a big deal?

As seen above, Google has captured the “cloud” era ahead of schedule. Without even looking at the advanced features or Google Apps, one can create and store documents on their google account, set appointments organize and share a calendar, find new information and search for products, solutions, books, or even watch a movie or a how to video.

Social Media has changed the way that people interact and use the web, in fact web 2.0 was all about social media. Websites, software and plug-in updates that allowed people to interact with one another and turned a one directional internet into a multi directional web. In web 2.0 not only can you talk back to the media or information source, you could share it or pass it around. The individual web user could claim the brand of a company for better or worse. Dell had individuals that were not related or employed by the company providing customer support in the forums, and Milton’s Scrabble lost thousands, arguably millions in its brand because two other developers claimed the brand in Facebook.

Web 3.0 has been branded the “cloud” era where information, both public and personal is stored on the world wide web and accessed via data plans, Wifi or traditional cable and dial up. This includes massive files for things like high definition media, entire company databases, etc. This is really not something that is new, just look at how startups like Patch Media use google to simulate a traditional IT infostructure or Saleforce.com to organize track and distribute leads, sales and work. With only one main hub in NYC, Patch Media delivers people and content without traditional overhead in over 800 communities around the United States.

Google Plus bridges the gap between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0

In Google Hangout people interact in a real time public space. Others now have to rethink how they look, speak and the body language or facial features that they use. (The innovative marketers and advertisers will need to think how to get a coke can on the desk during that hangout, how to get a new movie poster on the wall behind that person on the hangout etc.)

Google Hangouts has a game changing advantage for those that know how to present, speak and are truly genuine in public. Users should be aware that this new social tool is a lot like “Larry King Live” and you better be prepared for questions that you may not want to answer.

Google Plus has an A symmetrical sharing system, which means that we can send to others but not get a share in return. G+ from its creation allows users to separate professional and personal lives and even organize beyond the largest separation issue that has plagues social users. This interface along with many other features makes Google Plus the most advanced social media site/tool/software that has ever been created, but all that pales in comparison to why Google is so powerful in web 3.0.

If you are in a space where you are using social in a way that allows you to network and share both your personal life and professional life, what could be better than the Google suite of products? You can share and update documents in real time, video conference, make appointments, develop leads, search out information, shop and buy products, services and so on…

A small business now has an IT Dept. in one place. They can seek out support, generate leads, share reports, organize their schedule, promote their business with video, learn from other videos, advertise in Search, not to mention capture the power of social or viral activity. The digital business can now provide face to face support in a familiar environment something that many still crave.

A teacher or tutor can instruct a class or group from half way around the world, share documents, collect home work in real time. A educator or small college can now reach millions and take online learning into a space that captures the best of brick and mortar with distance learning once only done through text based posts.

A politician can capture and organize moral entrepreneurs, organizations and supporters from an account that brands who they are, what they are doing and interact with them with little or no technical experience or knowledge.

The shift in the world economy has come from millions of individuals competing with large corporations and brands that once held a monopoly on professional marketing, networking and talent. Thanks to a Google account you can now work with the best talent, develop a impressive network and generate a brand that is professional, technologically competitive and organized.

 

Sources:

ICANN: Domain Dispute?

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The Following Article was published in response to a issue raised in with two Real Estate brands in the Hamptons. It is issues like these that are at the heart of this publication and its mission. “It is my hope that when someone isn’t sure about digital media or the information that has been presented to them, they can turn to this blog as a source to verify or self educate so that they can make better more informed decisions”.

Saunders to Give Back Two Domain Names to Non-Saunders Agents published in 27East.com

ICANN – Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

To reach another person or a company on the internet you have to type a name or a number as an address into your computer. This address has to be unique so computers can find each other. Who regulates it and decides on a uniform system? Who decides who owns what?

From the start there were a few known addresses called top level domain (TLD); .COM, .NET, .ORG, .EDU and endings which denote countries: .UK, .FR, .LI (Libya) or .IL (Israel).  These are called country code top level domains.

Up until September 1998, the United States Government completely controlled the system. The entity which supervised the internet was called IANA – Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.

As the internet grew and became more commercial and wide spread, the US control became increasingly untenable. The Clinton Administration was looking for a way to make the governance of the domain system global and free.  One option was to hand over control to the UN, and indeed the UN pushed to have that authority under its International Telecommunication’s Union, but the Clinton Administration decided to privatize the domain name governance. It did so to keep the web’s critical system away from political influence and stifling bureaucrats.

The ICANN – Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a non-profit corporation was established. It was commissioned to oversee a number of internet related issues; managing the internet protocol address, assigning regional internet registries for countries, maintaining registries of internet protocol identifiers, management of top level domain names space and introduction of new generic top-level domains. Their principles call for helping preserve the operational stability of the internet, promote competition, and have a broad representation of the global internet community.

ICANN is located in Marina Del Ray, California, and remains in the same building where it started at the University of Southern California. Jon Postel who thought about an entity like that and was set to be the first CTO, died unexpectedly at the age of 55 before he saw it come to life.

At present ICANN is managed by a board of directors, composed of six representatives of sub groups that deal with specific section of the ICANN charter. They are supported by 3 organizations: the Generic Names Supporting Organization who deals with policy regarding generic top level domain, the County Code Names Support Organization and the Address Supporting Organization who deals with policy on IP addresses. There are advisory committees on different subjects like risk, finance, global relationships, IANA and structural improvements.

ICANN doesn’t control content and it can’t stop spam. It does not deal with access to the internet.

ICANN holds public meetings rotated between continents to encourage global participation in its processes. The resolutions, reports, and minutes of meetings are published on the ICANN website. In September 2006, ICANN signed a new agreement with the US Department of Justice for another 5 years.

Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy

One task the ICANN was asked to do is ownership dispute resolution for generic top level domains. Together with the World Intellectual Property Organization it drafted a policy that is known as Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy. This policy attempts to provide a mechanism for a fast, cheap and reasonable resolution of domain name conflicts, avoiding the traditional court system and relying on arbitration. According to their policy a domain registrant agrees, when he signs the domain contract, to be bound by the resolution of the arbitration.

The UDRP currently applies to .BIZ, .COM, .INFO, .NAME, .NET and .ORG and some country code top-level domains.

A complaint has to establish 3 elements:

  1. The domain name is confusingly similar or identical to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has the right to.
  2. The registrant has no right or legitimate interest in the domain name.
  3. The registration was done in “bad faith”.

A single arbitrator or a panel of three arbitrators  will consider factors such as whether the domain was registered in order to be resold, rented or transferred to the owner of the trademark; whether the domain name was registered to prevent the owner from  registering corresponding domain name, whether it was registered primarily for the purpose of disrupting a competitor or whether, by using the domain name, the registrant attempted to attract internet users for commercial gain, creating a likelihood or confusion.

Those services come at a price; from $1,500 for a single arbitrator to $5,000 for a panel. A very long list of the disputes brought to them is published on their wesite.

Much of the published arbitration has to do with famous cases: Madonna v. Dan Parisi who registered the domains MadonnaCiccone.com and Madonna.com. He was ordered to turn over the domain names to Madonna.

Robert de Niro claimed ownership for all domain names that include the word Tribeca plus any content related to the film festival. His dispute was with a domain called Tribeca.net. Rihanna.com came up for sale and the legal team of the singer filed a UDRP. Other famous arbitrations were conducted regarding ElitrModels.com, WWF.com and AirDeccan.com. All the information about procedures and timelines can be found here: http://www.icann.org/en/udrp/udrp.htm

There are other entities approved by ICANN which provide UDRP services: World Intellectual Property Organization, National Arbitration Forum, Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre and the Czech Arbitration Court Arbitration Center for Internet Disputes.

All their sites detail the procedures, timelines and prices.

Sources:

GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar and ShowMyPc

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Remote viewing or remote connections have been an imperative part of the technical support world for many years. However, in more recent years, developers finally found other great formats for remote connection that also has plenty of benefits.

  • Web Meetings and Conferences
  • Webinars
  • Web Training

 Along with other useful aspects, these are some of the reasons why remote connectivity software or programming has become more popular in recent years.

GoToMeeting

GotoMeeting offers their customers a solid package for the price of $49 USD per month. This fee includes integrated VoIP, telephone conferencing service and a single license for unlimited web meetings with up to fifteen participants. With their software package users will be able to:

  • Schedule regular or reoccurring meetings
  • One-click meetings
  • Transfer the mouse and keyboard controls to meeting participants
  • Access to desktop and selected applications
  • Clean screen
  • Instant messaging
  • Activity time-outs
  • Meeting recording

GoToMeeting also allows users to create Webinars. If you are not familiar with the term, think of it as being allowed to attend a large conference from the comfort of your own home.

GotoWebinars allows users to harness the same power of remote meeting interaction but on a much larger scale. Webinars created on this service can accommodate up to 1,000 people and can bring the power of influential interaction, literally, to your fingertips.

How Can A Webinar Benefit My Business?

Using Webinars to market your products or services can offer great benefit in many aspects of your day-to-day business planning by:

  • Reducing travel time so you can focus your efforts on the most important elements of your business.
  • Generating more high-quality marketing leads at lesser cost.
  • Presenting your marketing campaign to up to a thousand people from your home or office computer.
  • Helping to save on the bottom line in travel cost, and other forms of audio conferencing such as international calling. 
  • Reaching locales, niches and regions that you may have been previously unable to market to due to other restrictions.

 Alexa shows that GoToMeeting is ranked globally at #381 while the U.S. shows the highest traffic ranking of #132. Users are predominately Caucasian and African-American women with some college education who use the program from work.

ShowMyPc

In comparison, ShowMyPC is another remote connection service that can help to improve productivity and profitability for your business.

Although it offers the same functions as GoToMeeting it also offers a bit more, as well as the flexibility to choose a package that provides only the features you need. Different packages and capabilities include:

  • Remote Meeting Support – Conduct or attend meetings online.
  • Access Home or Office PCs – Remote viewing and access for technical support activity.
  • Privately Hosted Servers – So that users have the option of their own server for conducting secure meetings or simply secure connections on remote access.
  • Broadcasting Presentations or Classroom Planning – If you have a business that involves training and education this is likely the best option for remote access viewing and interaction.

Considering the packages are separate elements on their own, this is likely the more cost efficient option for those who are just launching this type of web conferencing campaigns while GoToMeeting would provide a better value for those who may need to use all of these aspects of remote viewing in their common activities.

ShowMyPc has attained a global ranking of #41,268 and statistics show that most users browse from work and are predominately educated males between the ages of 25 and 45 with incomes ranging from 30 to 100k USD.

Sources:

Stik: Reviews from your social network

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Making significant purchases such as new homes, insurance policies or even your well-planned retirement investments will require individuals to find professionals they can truly trust. Many unsuspecting consumers may find themselves working with unknown representatives or salespersons who may not always have the buyers best financial interest at heart.

Just as unfortunately it can often be confusing to know where to find a trustworthy partner in this important venture. Although some businesses, online or off, may proclaim their reputable characteristics, there can also be whispers about even their policies or practices being questionable. Most often, the best group to rely on are those who have already made their own investments with the help of good salespeople and had very pleasant and lucrative experiences.

Stik offers a great system for users to leave behind their own reviews for friends who they already know they can trust and rely on. Stik can help take the stress and anxiety from major purchases from the buyer side, as well as providing great feedback to professionals who deserve the recognition for delicate financial jobs well done and beneficial to the buyers.

Get Stik’D

Logging in via Facebook is likely the quickest and easiest option, though if you do not have a Facebook account for some reason, this would be a great time to get one. The integration provided by Facebook will prevent users from having to repetitively enter the same information.

Once you have signed it, Stik will give you the option to select from your Facebook friends users you would like to ask for recommendations from. Once you have sent that on you can leave recommendations of your own for those on your friends list.

Setting up your profile is as simple as entering a few descriptions of your services and allowing Facebook’s regional information to integrate itself. Once in you will be give several search options. Searching through your friends first, shared connections, the distance from your location and even through keyword relevance. Whenever you need to do a new search, click on the Stik site and select the type of business you are planning to do from the available choices:

  • Real Estate
  • Insurance
  • Mortgage
  • Finance
  • Law

Essentially, your Stik profile can help to showcase personalized recommendations or reviews that will encourage prospective customers to feel comfortable entering a business relationship with you. Since you can now display updates from your Facebook fan page on your Stik profile, you won’t have to work twice as hard to post them to both profiles. Simply visit the “Recent Activity” tab on your profile and select the link to “Display your Facebook content here” to quickly display your public posts to your Stik profile.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuvcrPjp860]

Stik Users

Stik’s current US traffic rank is at 3,972. User audience consist greatly of those with limited college educations as well as to women who earn over 60k per year. Most browsers view from work.

Sources:

Best Twitter Tools: TweetDeck, TrueTwit, FLLWRS, 20FT, Formulists

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Twitter has become such a media marketing giant on the net in the last few years that there is now an entire industry devoted to the creation of tools, tips and tricks to make your Twitter experience easier, quicker or more user-friendly in just about any manner. Many of those tools provided can help to do quite a few things for your Twitter account. These are a few of the BEst Twitter Tools you can use together for a great twitter experience.

TweetDeck

Well, TweetDeck honestly does a little bit of everything. Its many features include:

  • Updates to Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Google Buzz.
  • Retweet in the common Twitter style, or create your own.
  • Smoothly manage conversations with @replies or direct messaging.
  • Keep on top of trending information.
  • Easily locate friends or other similar niche followers.  
  • View, record and share YouTube videos and clips.
  • LinkedIn contact integration
  • Manage multiple accounts on Twitter

The list seriously goes on and on. This may be the best of the all-in-one tools available for social media management. If that isn’t great enough, the TweetDeck’s Deck.ly integration allows users to continue typing past the character limit and allow Deck.ly to show them the rest.

TweetDeck has a global Alexa ranking of 2,215. Most are highly educated females who browse mostly from work. This site is also popular in Mexico where it is ranked at #796.

 TrueTwit

TrueTwit is a Twitter validation tool that can help you automate a few vital Twitter services. The basic, or free, account provides several benefits.

  • The basic service is always free
  • New followers must pass a CAPTCHA test for validation.
  • Users can decide to auto-follow the new users who are validated.
  • Users can choose to auto-unfollow those users who unfollow them.
  • Users can try out a pro version for 30 days at any time.

The professional, or premium TrueTwit account allows for a bit stiffer and more intensive Twitter management.

  • Users can choose to allow TrueTwit to analyze prospective followers to be certain they are more than just spam or affiliate accounts.
  • Users are provided with a Follower Analysis page that shows a summary of the status of all of your followers.
  • Users receive a free 30 day trial of the product. If satisfied, they pay $20 USD per year.

Ranked 5,384 globally, TrueTwit’s average viewers tend to be Caucasian women between the ages of 35 and 55 who make between 30k and 100k USD per year.

FLLWRS

FLLWRS is another Twitter follower management tool but on a very basic level. Simply click to the URL and select the option to See your twitter follower history. Allow the integration suggestion, and move right into your follower management configurations.

FLLWRS will not only monitor your followers but also provide you with a list with those who have unfollowed you. Managing this list can help a business who uses Twitter understand what may be turning their consumers off about their marketing techniques.

FLLWRS has a global traffic ranking of 55,894 with around 25% of its users located in the U.S. It is also very popular in the Netherlands where its ranking is listed at 5,010. On average, FLLWRS users are educated, childless females under the age of 35 with incomes ranging around 30k USD.

20Ft

20ft is a performance based Twitter tool that allows users to recap their last Twitter week for the user, their followers and friends.

A post about your week on Twitter is published at the start of each week automatically if you configure the service to do so. So what is your week on Twitter all about? And what does 20ft do for their users?

  • 20Ft helps to create a detailed analysis for your social media profiles and provides incredible data in your timeline charts.
  • 20Ft can send their users a ‘nudge’ if their metrics change significantly, for the positive or negative.
  • Users will have their own aggregated statistics in one easy place to access with a simple user interface.
  • This overview can be provided for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Analytics and more.

At #118,130 20Ft still has some work to do to impress Alexa beyond the current ranking. The average 20Ft user tend to browse from work and are on average women between the ages of 25 and 55 with high-end educations.

Formulists

Formulists is a Twitter tool that allows users to organize groups of their Twitter followers into auto-updting Twitter lists. Formulists allows for filter application and networking solely based on your biography, location and supplied keywords or phrases as well as your Twitter activity, the number of followers and more.

Although list creation and management can be difficult for users who are not incredibly net savvy, Forumulists provides its users with helpful text tutorials as well as videos to make set up easier than ever.

Users can choose to create Formulists to help filter those they follow, expand their network, manage current followers, track interactions, or even customize existing lists.

This type of organization and management can help you to create a Twitter following of followers who already have vested interest in your own products and services.

Formulists has a global page ranking of 48,923. Although popular in the U.S., this site is very popular in Bangladesh with a ranking of 12,892. Viewers are primarily females between the ages of 35 and 54 who browse from home.

Another Great tool is Paper.li and was covered in a previous blog.

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