Patrick Dougher, Author at Patrick Dougher: Doer Success TV

Larry Allen of International Collectors Associates tells why Gold is Still a Good Value

Larry: Sure. We, for years, had done some placements overseas in Switzerland. Probably three to four years ago we constructed an actual program because we wanted it easy for an investor. You can invest as little as $10,000. It is held in a secured depository in Zurich, Switzerland.

Larry Allen of International Collectors Associates tells why Gold is Still a Good Value

Announcer: If you are an investor worried about government spending and inflation, you need to consider hedging with precious metals. The expert in the business is Larry Allen with International Collectors Associates.
Larry Allen: I was here when gold hit previous high in ’80 of $875. Gold currently is trading in the $1240 range so it kind of leads some people to say, “Well, we’ve never been this high. Those sheer numbers, that’s correct.
But if you really dissect it and you start thinking about, “What did that car cost me in 1980, or that house cost me?” It was a fourth or a third of what they cost today. So if you factor for inflation, it would not be unusual to see gold $2,000 – $3,000 even currently. Our projection is that we will see those type of numbers over the next couple of years.
Announcer: Call Larry Allen today at (866) 211-8971 and ask for their complimentary information package or log on to mygoldportfolio.com. That’s International Collectors Associates (866) 211-8971.
Richard: Larry heads up the Precious Metals Group in International Collectors Association. Larry, are you there?
Larry: I am. Hey Richard, how are you?
Richard: I’m excellent. What a great day this is here.
Larry: Well, good.
Richard: How’s the weather there?
Larry: We’re in Durango, Colorado – a little corner of Colorado – and it’s beautiful. In fact, many of your listeners probably end up skiing out here or coming our way.
Richard: So International Collectors Associates is a precious metals company that’s been in business over 30 years, right Larry?
Larry: That is correct. A gentleman named Don McAlvany started this firm in 1972. It’s still owned and still run by the same family. We are a precious metals firm. We handle the gold, silver, platinum, palladium; any of the precious metals. We do also collectible coins, gold and silver IRAs. We also have a program for offshore storage with Switzerland.
So, been in the industry a long time. I’ve been with Don personally since 1980, so pretty well-versed in the precious metals area.
Richard: That’s great. So you guys have got some real longevity there. You’re not one of those dealers that just popped up in the last five years because gold started skyrocketing.
Larry: Yeah. Richard, it seems like everybody and his brother is a gold dealer these days. But we’re one of the old stalwarts. We’ve seen it through a lot of market cycles. So yeah, we’re not going anywhere; planning on being here a long time as well.
Richard: That’s great. Can you tell us some more about the benefits of dealing with International Collectors Associates?
Larry: One of the things – or a number of things – that we’ve always done that, hopefully, separates us from just a coin dealer, if you will, is we have produced an economic, geopolitic type of newsletter for years, almost going back to the inception of the company.
Richard: The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor?
Larry: Exactly. And Don is renowned. He speaks all over, not only nationally, but abroad. And then we also do produce every year a DVD on those topics as well. That’s something that we do provide. We have a care package we can talk about maybe towards the end of it that any of your listeners can call for that have samples of these things.
But beyond that, we also have a podcast weekly with interviews with recognized financial figures as well as our feeling and our take on the market.
So we’re competitive on our pricing and we are an A+ rated firm with Better Business. We believe that we do a very excellent job on the service in providing whatever type of precious metals interest somebody has.
We feel that we bring a lot more to the table than just that because we do monitor it. We have a few strategies. There are opportunities between the different metals in what they call strategy trading or compounding ounces. So we do a lot of stuff rather than just sell metals, gold coins and that’s the end of it.
Richard: So you’ve got a real expert there – Don McAlvany.
Larry: Indeed. He’s been in this industry for prior – even to ’72 to the inception of the firm. He was the National Sales Manager for years prior to that with International Investors, the world’s largest gold mining share fund. So yeah, his background goes pretty deep in this area.
Richard: That is awesome. What a tremendous resource you represent.
Larry: Well, we would hope to think so and we’d sure enjoy coordinating and marrying up with your interests. Hopefully, we can provide some good things for your listeners as well.
Richard: Well, we are all concerned about inflation, the way the government is spending money.
Larry: In the 30 years, I’ve been doing this, gold and silver have always been kind of an inflation hedge. These days with where we’re going with this administration and fiscal policies, and then you look at the trouble that the euro is in with all these foreign currencies, today I’m seeing more and more investors and businesses park assets in gold and silver for protection of the decline of the value of their currency. So it’s kind of becoming a currency hedge as well.
Richard: That’s tremendous. So not only does it have intrinsic value, but it can help you hedge inflation.
Larry: Indeed. A lot of people will look at it from the speculative standpoint that we have some great appreciation over the next couple of years or beyond, and I believe we do. But also, I think it’s just one of those to help you sleep at night as you watch the erosion of your spending power of your dollar for sure.
Richard: And the euro. The euro was highly celebrated just a year ago, and now people are saying it might drop below the value of a dollar.
Larry: Exactly. You have very fiscally responsible Germany [5:31 inaudible] Italy, Spain, and Greece which did hit the wall, if you will. So I know that there’s got to be consternation within the group of countries the represent the EU. Kind of like one keeps a very tight checkbook and the other one likes to write them, if you will.
Richard: Yeah. One’s a little bit more socialistic than the other I think.
Larry: Yeah. That probably comes into the equation as well.
Richard: You bet. And now, you do also work with self-directed IRAs. Is that correct?
Larry: That is correct. You can put physical gold in your IRA in a qualified capacity, and it’s actually very easy to do.
Richard: Well Larry, tell us more about the Swiss storage programs because I think some of our listeners are international and they would be interested in that.
Larry: Sure. We, for years, had done some placements overseas in Switzerland. Probably three to four years ago we constructed an actual program because we wanted it easy for an investor. You can invest as little as $10,000. It is held in a secured depository in Zurich, Switzerland.
Richard: You mean not in an American bank, Larry? [laughs]
Larry: No. Well, true. No, we chose, maybe wisely, not to go that direction.
Richard: Well Larry, what else would you like to say to wrap it up?
Larry: Well, I would just encourage folks, if they’d like to get our care package of information, we’d be happy to provide it.
Richard: You bet. What number should they call, or how do they get in touch with you?
Larry: Our toll-free number here is (866) 211-8971. My name is Larry Allen. Website is www.mygoldportfolio.com. We do have a complimentary packet of information that we’d be happy to send to you.
Richard: And again, that number is 866…
Larry: 211-8971.
Richard: 211-8971.
Larry: Correct.
Richard: That is great. This is a direction that a lot of people need to take not, of course, with the majority of their assets, but we’re recommending that at least 10% be put into hedging. We don’t mean hedge funds [laughs] because we’ve seen what happened to those in the last five years.
Larry: Indeed.
Richard: Something that is a hard asset, that has intrinsic value like precious metals. So Larry, you’ve been of great assistance today. We really appreciate you coming on the show. Again, Larry Allen with International Collectors Associates, and you can reach him at (866) 211-8971

Use Social Media to Promote Your Business

Facebook – Originally used as a social networking site for college students, Facebook has gained acceptance and influence for all ages. On Facebook, it is easy to post pictures, videos and personal information. Users connect by posting information on walls. You have to accept invitations from friends and choose what information to share. Facebook accounts are created by an individual, but you can make a company page linked to your personal account to promote your company. Use Facebook ads to promote your company by designing an ad and choosing the demographics that will view the ads. Ads can be pay-per-impression or pay-per-click. The fasting growing Facebook demographic is women over 55 years of age.

As the market determines how social media will ultimately impact businesses, you should be positioning your company to take advantage of this new wave of advertising. Depending upon your marketing strategy, you may decide to just test the waters or jump in with both feet. Either way, develop a marketing plan for your social media endeavors. Be sure that you have a policy for anyone (even the owner) that participates in online conversation. Remember, you want to promote a positive corporate image and attract high quality customers and employees.

At our seminars on social media, we present an overview of how to get started in social media. We concentrate on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Blogging as these are popular, fast-growth platforms that look like they are here to stay.

Social media takes time. Beginners spend approximately 2 hours a week. After a few months, the amount of time spent jumps to about 10 hours a week. Those who actively practice social media marketing, commit 20 hours a week or more to keeping up with their social media activities. As with any initiative before you start, make sure you can devote the time and energy needed to have a consistent presence. Starting small with steady growth is preferable to a big splash then fizzling out.

Many people are struggling with an effective social media strategy and evaluating the social media return-on-investment. There are some who claim you can make money with social media, but quantifying the revenue has been difficult. For most, social media is a model for positive promotion, reputation monitoring and networking. Remember, social media is an extension of the more traditional forms of networking. So approach your social media communications with the same integrity and etiquette that you would use in face-to-face exchanges.

LinkedIn – A business-oriented social media site used for networking. You can create your personal profile and make a company page. You approve people that want to link to you and send invitations to others to link. Once linked, you get notification on posts, groups, updates and other details about your connections. LinkedIn is powerful for connecting to business professionals, researching companies and participating in industry and topical groups. You can send your Facebook, Twitter, Blog and other posts directly to your LinkedIn page

Facebook – Originally used as a social networking site for college students, Facebook has gained acceptance and influence for all ages. On Facebook, it is easy to post pictures, videos and personal information. Users connect by posting information on walls. You have to accept invitations from friends and choose what information to share. Facebook accounts are created by an individual, but you can make a company page linked to your personal account to promote your company. Use Facebook ads to promote your company by designing an ad and choosing the demographics that will view the ads. Ads can be pay-per-impression or pay-per-click. The fasting growing Facebook demographic is women over 55 years of age.

Twitter – A social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-bases posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers. Find followers that are interested in your industry, products or services. Follow those who tweet information of interest or value. Use tweets to drive followers to your blog or other social media sites. Send tweets on a variety of topics, but don’t just tweet advertisements or your followers will dwindle.

YouTube – A video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals but some media corporations offer content. Users can watch the videos and registered users are permitted to upload an unlimited number of videos. Use YouTube to upload video blogs, interview, tutorials and presentation to name a few. YouTube content can be used on your website or blog to provide information through video. Some markets prefer video and recording demonstrations, instructions and interviews can be a powerful addition to the printed word. Photos can be uploaded to YouTube, set to music and made into a video with captions. On your YouTube account you can monitor how many views each video has received and allow viewers to leave comments.

Blogging – Blog comes from the term web log. A business blog is a website with regular entries of information, commentary, and events. Blogs can be maintained by a single individual or group. There are many group blogs on broad topics of interest Blogs are mainly text, but often add graphics, music or video for meaning and content. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Most blogs allow readers to leave comments in an interactive format, but it is important that comments should be reviewed before being posted to your business blog. Blogs should be professional and well written. Your posts should be used to establish your expertise in an industry or on a topic. Use other social media sites to drive users to your blog where you can explore topics more deeply. Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts.

Want to try social media, but don’t know where to start?

Try LinkedIn first. It’s easy to get started, find connections and add content.
Then try Facebook. It’s a bit more complicated, but worth the effort. Once you get your personal page and some friends, make a company page and suggest it to your friends.
Now you’re ready for Twitter. Set up your account and tweet once or twice a day. Remember to make your tweets interesting and minimize advertisement.
Now start blogging! Use the other sites to drive traffic to your blog. Create content that can also be used on your social media sites, web pages and newsletters.

Ms. Hester is the CEO of LAN Systems which provides IT solutions in the Greater Metro Atlanta Area. LAN Systems is dedicated to providing business technology that works for people. In 2004, Mary founded Intelligent System Solutions, Inc. (ISS) which provides high-tech consulting, sales and service to utility customers. Mary brings extensive experience managing a support and service group renowned for its “Best in the Industry” rating and standards. She is an expert in customer loyalty and retention. She has designed and delivered numerous training courses and workshops on a variety of topics.

Social Media Strategy – Why Should You Have One?

Imagine a whole network of people orbiting around your business, getting included in the processes and feedback of your ideas, providing free advertising for you through the phenomenon of word-of-mouth, making your company into a familiar brand. Now, it won’t always work like this, but the opportunity is there. You can make a dent in your visibility and increase the stretch of your marketing campaign’s arms by reaching the largest amount of customers possible through the various platforms of social media – a reach that is incomparable to what you have been doing before.

Social Media Strategies – Why Should I Have One?

Well… it’s the next big thing, doncha know? It really is. Social media is currently unavoidable and is causing a storm in the marketing world. You can either stay in the dark ages or you can get with the times, and judging by the very real and impressive results some companies are getting, we would recommend the latter.

But there’s no point jumping on the bandwagon in a keeping up with the Jones’ kind of way. One of the reasons many strategies fail is because a company gets impatient, doesn’t take the time to think objectively about what they want to achieve and how they intend on doing it, then quickly lose focus when they don’t get the results they expect. Others become a little too obsessed with their Twitter interactions and forget about the actual work… As Buddha suggests, “Take the middle path.”

A good social media strategy requires a lot of thought and planning – you need to think about your goals, you need to include your entire company when embarking on this relatively new route to market, you need to prepare content and set aside time to put your aims into practice.

Because we all like a good list of top tips, let’s put it like this:

#1 – Social media is a MASSIVE opportunity for building your brand. Massive. MaHOOsive. Imagine a whole network of people orbiting around your business, getting included in the processes and feedback of your ideas, providing free advertising for you through the phenomenon of word-of-mouth, making your company into a familiar brand. Now, it won’t always work like this, but the opportunity is there. You can make a dent in your visibility and increase the stretch of your marketing campaign’s arms by reaching the largest amount of customers possible through the various platforms of social media – a reach that is incomparable to what you have been doing before.

#2 – Social media has a place for everyone. Where do you belong? Well try out Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us, Scribd or a gazillion more of the social media platforms out there. Have a good browse, there are many subject specific niche sites which may focus your results more effectively, such as Hugg (ahhh) for environmental issues, Kirsty for fashion and design, Sphinn for search and interactive marketers, Tweako for guides and tutorials and Autospies for, you guessed it, everything automotive. And there is a ton more if you just look – some are not very well publicised, some are not very active, but hey, it’s up to you to find the best forum for your content.

#3 – Social media is a cheaper alternative to traditional advertising. It takes narry a penny to set up accounts for email, a blog, or any of the sites listed in #2. It takes man power and man hours to manage, but very little, if anything, to maintain. There are tools to help things work more smoothly and integrate all your different areas of networking which charge for services, but it is possible to run a social media campaign for next to nothing. You are reaching your targeted demographic (and beyond) for the price of your broadband…

#4 – Social media allows you to see what your clients are saying about you. It’s no secret that posting certain opinions on social media sites has got people into trouble with bosses, spouses, friends and the law, but a bit of honesty is extremely healthy for marketing. People hang up the minute they realise there’s a market researcher calling, yet they’ll freely publicise their opinions on products and services online. In fact, most people jump at the chance to give their two pennies’ worth. As long as you respond to bad feedback in a productive and professional way, you can use this information to increase your offerings based on cold hard facts, and end up giving your customers exactly what they want.

#5 – Social media makes us all equal. Social media has a great levelling power. If you’re a little local business, trying to branch out into the big bad world of the web – great, you can achieve much wider popularity than just advertising in your home town, doing what you do best, providing great personalised services. If you’re a fat cat company, struggling with a public face like a blank wall – great, you can interact with your customers on a personal level, make yourselves accessible and friendly and show the world you’re not just a corporate suit. The fact that everyone from your little niece to your doddery granny is getting online and getting involved with social media means that everyone has a voice, and everyone has an opportunity to be friends. Ah, isn’t that nice? Now go sell yourself.

Ikroh is a Search Engine Optimisation company that is 100% ethical and hugely passionate about our clients and their success online. We work as a close knit team on a one to one level with all of our clients – an uncommon strength in the web marketing field.

We offer a complete range of internet marketing services, including SEO, Pay Per Click advertising, Web Audits and Social Media.

www.ikroh.com

Smash your competitors by 1 week social media strategy

These are obsolete questions because everybody is now well familiar with the term social media networking and how businesses are being flourished all over the globe. With cost-effective, striking and focused social media networking, companies had brought great revival on virtual world as well as offline world because it directly affected traditional marketing styles. People now prefer online social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, MySpace, Friendster etc for the promotions of their goods and services and creating burly bond with the local as well as global world.

What is social media? Why we need social media? What it does for businesses? What benefits can we get from it? Is it worth using? bla bla bla.

I insist you to go everywhere where you think your audience is. Do not stick to single network. If you are on Facebook, try digging out Twitter too and interact with your Facebook fans there as well. It will be an attraction for new fans or followers seeing you interacting so pleasantly with people. In short, we all know it; now let’s find some smart ways to smash your competitors in a very less time. Say, a week time and your business will be able to develop a remarkable position on different social media networks.

Start blogging

Create your brand’s official blog in the first place without delaying a second. When you will have your official blog and link it to your Facebook profile with customized options available, it will automatically establish your credibility when they will see you actively working on your blog, sharing news and information and being buddy-buddy with the blogger world. Atleast a week time you will require and you would be able to have quality blog, stuffed with interesting and informative content.

Let me remind you one thing, it’s not outer appearance of your blog theme only that would insist them to come back. It will be quality of your content. Your blog theme matters a lot though.

A week dedicated to customer service

Customer service is a great part of social media networking. It’s all about human business, how you treat your niche, how you solve their problems, how you listen them and come up with some solutions. You have to maintain a win-win situation. Neither can you let down your customers, nor the grace and dignity of your business.

Ask them what problems they face, and give some smart solutions. Listening is most important and justification is even more.

Fulfill your corporate social responsibility

It is the best way to serve your society or community as well in the cover of your business’ success. You can start a virtual corporate social responsibility program on social media networks like Facebook, twitter, Bebo etc. Spread about it on your blogs as well. There are hell lots of issues that need awareness, and all you need to have some time to talk about them.

It will bring good-will for your brand in the hearts of your niche, because of the positive image you show. It is less expensive and most influencing. Time is the cost.

This is a week social media strategy program, feel the difference after a week. You will get more energy for your business, more people in your business and more good wishes for your business.

For further details please feel free to visit our web site http://www.socialfactory.net

Keys to having a Website that is a Prospect Magnate with Jennifer Bagley of Compliments International and Patrick Dougher

This is a great interview with Jennifer Bagley the CEO of Compliments International on Learning From Leaders TV show on Channel 34 in the DFW area. Jennifer and I talk about the Keys to converting your website into a Marketing Magnate for your company attracting prospects for you to convert to clients. This show is about 28 minutes in length and is worth the view. If you would like to visit about your site to see what needs to be done with your website to make it more attractive to the search engines and your future clients email me at pat@patrickdougher.com.

Keys to having a Website that is a Prospect Magnate with Jennifer Bagley of Compliments International and Patrick Dougher

Fear of Social Media: See no evil

What’s stopping you from including social media in your marketing plan? Is it a fear of the unknown? Many companies often react this way. It’s a common human reaction to things that are considered new or unfamiliar. Moving your brand into a space that enables direct conversation and engagement with your consumers can be a scary idea for many businesses. How would you react if customer sentiment turns negative?

Here are some pointers on how to manage unexpected or negative comments and why you need be there to respond:

Listen – as with all marketing, listening is the first step to understanding your customers. Listen to what is being said about your brand.
Have a plan – it’s important to consider how you will respond to different situations, this will avoid feeling shocked or unprepared when comments appear. You should build hypothetical response scenarios into your social media strategy.
Stay calm – seeing negative comments can insight panic, try to stay level headed and think carefully about the best way to respond.
Get your facts straight – make sure that your response is accurate and truthful, you’ll only have a backlash to deal with if you are found to be hiding facts.
Be transparent – this shows that you believe in your brand and will openly respond to critics. Mag Nation did this well recently when they openly posted a negative comment, that had been directed at them, with their response and then tweeted it out to their followers.
Be true to your brand – don’t change your voice. If your brand has a particular personality, maintain this in your response. Why suddenly change to a corporate, dry tone and confuse fans and followers?

Be true to your brand – don’t change your voice. If your brand has a particular personality, maintain this in your response. Why suddenly change to a corporate, dry tone and confuse fans and followers?

Even if you are scared of social media at first, keep in mind that it will get easier with time and experience. It is also important to remember that it is better for your brand to be aware of comments, both good and bad, to ensure you get a chance to respond to them. Being scared of what people may say doesn’t stop them saying it, it just means that you are choosing to ignore it. As previously mentioned Mag Nation’s recent response was handled well and met with positive comments from their readers. See Mag Nation’s full response here.

Do you have any examples of well executed responses?

I am a Social Media Coordinator at Daemon Group, a Sydney based integrated communications agency specialising in brand, employee to business communications, marketing and digital. I love the endless development and opportunities within the social media world. Working within this industry keeps me motivated, challenged and inspired.

How Social Media Is Helping the Hyundai Motor Company

“Finding important and relevant information is not easy when you are unfamiliar with how to perform certain modifications,” said a Hyundai spokesperson. “Having a forum and website where answers to important questions are laid out for you, would help with modifying your Hyundai to its highest potential.”

Building Better Cars and Better Customer Relations.

Hyundai has been getting a lot of attention these days as a company that cares about its customers and part of this success can be credited to social media marketing. By integrating a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy with social media along with their traditional marketing, Hyundai has branded itself as an altruistic company that really does care about its’ customers. In fact – Hyundai has jumped ahead of every other car manufacturer in the critical customer satisfaction index (CSI) category. Here are a few examples how Hyundai is applying their social media marketing strategy in key parts of their business and how it is paying off.

Promotion

Hyundai’s Assurance Program began in early 2009 when the economy was at its worst and unemployment was rising rapidly. The Hyundai Assurance Program promised that if you got laid off from your job, you could return your car and not even have to worry about honoring the rest of the note payable. The promotion was innovative but coming from a major car corporation was it believable? The attention the campaign received from the press and from many blogs and websites was skeptical.

Hyundai began promoting the idea on Facebook and Twitter. They asked everyone to buzz and tweet about it and people responded with enthusiasm. The idea of social networking for business exposure is not new but the strategy was extraordinary because it laid the groundwork for the campaign and gave it credibility. It was a brilliant way to market a promotion that really did work. Sharing this information on Facebook and Twitter turned out to be a big plus for the car company’s marketing campaign.

Hyundai sales are up 6.2 percent through November 2009. This marks the eleventh consecutive month of year-over-year gains in retail market share by Hyundai. The Hyundai Assurance Program is without doubt one of the reasons their sales have increased this year while other car manufacturers have floundered.

Corporate Responsibility

Zafar Brooks, Director of Government Relations and Diversity Outreach at Hyundai, has a refreshing perspective on the value of social media when combined with corporate outreach programs. The Hyundai “Hope on Wheels” program fights pediatric cancer by funding cancer research programs across the country. Brooks understands the importance of authenticity and relevance in social media outreach, particularly on behalf of corporate charitable programs.

He said: “Consumers are more sophisticated now — corporate social responsibility programs are no longer something that is ‘nice’ to do, but it’s expected of the company,” noted Brooks. “Simultaneously, consumers will smell-out what is not authentic — Hope on Wheels isn’t advertised, but is part of the news we share with our brand loyalists,” he said. “It is a part of our story because it is a part of who we are and what we are about. Social media should be authentic and organic.”

Mr. Brooks added, “Brand leaders must align themselves with a cause that is consistent with corporate values so they can illustrate their relevancy. Leadership has to establish the priorities around which we stand and make it part of our messaging point.”

Brooks concluded: “All social media should link together with a common objective to develop a program based on who we want to talk to about what we want to accomplish. Social media outreach must be part of a cohesive approach. Consumers will smell-out what is not authentic!”

Aftermarket

Hyundai Aftermarket recently announced the launch of a new social media campaign. The goal was to give Hyundai owners a new way of finding content on the internet about modifying their vehicles. The interactive social media campaign involves additional features being built into the Hyundai forum that owners can use effectively to get the word out about what they are doing to make their cars stand out from the rest. Twitter accounts and Facebook “Fan Pages” have been built so that owners can follow live updated news feeds about Hyundai Aftermarket as well.

While the site has been branded as the “web’s most premier Hyundai forum” and currently is the oldest Hyundai forum on the internet, it has been designed for both the amateur and professional car enthusiast in mind. The site is built on the principle of being very easy going and helpful to anyone who may or may not know a lot about Hyundai’s. Users register for free and can partake in discussions about Hyundai Accents, Tiburons, Elantra’s, Sonata’s, Santa Fe’s and the all new Hyundai Genesis.

In addition to providing great technical content, hyundaiaftermarket provides great off topic discussions ranging in everything from technology to music & movies to even food and health/nutrition.

Sofia Sapojnikova
Vesta Digital
IntelBuilder Social Media Platform
http://www.vestadigital.com

7 Steps To Leverage Social Media For Increasing Web Site Traffic

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc. have become popular among the internet marketers. Most marketers hawk their websites, blog, affiliate links, list building URLs, etc. all day long to drive traffic to their web sites. Not only it is annoying to the network members, but also the effectiveness of such a strategy is yet to be proven.

However, you cannot ignore this emerging medium. You need to embrace it using a different mindset. If you follow the seven guidelines discussed below, you will be able to increase traffic to your site from these social media sites without exposing yourself as a self-centered marketer who will do anything to cash in on every opportunity.

1. Create a profile page at each site and detail your interests, expertise, blogs, and websites in your profile. In Twitter, you are limited by text space and the number of URLs you can use in your bio. Facebook has more flexibility and you can pull your blog RSS into the Facebook notes.

Social network sites are pull medium where the old push marketing fails miserably. Your goal should be to pull people to your profile page by regularly posting valuable and interesting contents from other sites. You can post your blog article in Twitter occasionally but don’t submit every blog post your create.

2. The old school marketing relies on four Ps – price, product, placement, and promotion. The social media adds another dimension and one more P to the marketing philosophy and it is the participation.

You need to participate in the conversion and at the same time encourage others to participate. If you want to build a community that will trust you, you need to participate by providing expert opinions and valuable information. You need to help others when somebody has a question. Even if don’t know the answer, find it out by spending sometime on the Web.

You also need to draw others in the discussions by asking questions, giving controversial opinions, raising interesting issues that affect your niche. Passively posting your URL all over the place will not bring traffic to your site. Only concerted efforts to position yourself as a knowledgeable person in your niche will result in more visitors to your site.

3. To position yourself as an expert in your niche, you need to create contents that are fresh, interesting, and valuable to your readers. You also have to discover high quality contents in your niche for sharing with others. Subscribe to a few dozen blogs and scan them everyday for high quality contents so that you can share it with others in your network.

4. You cannot hide yourself in the social media world. If you are a fake, people will discover it fast and you will lose trust and traffic. So, be authentic, transparent and humble in all your conversations. If you make a mistake, admit it and move on.

5. To establish your credibility and expertise, you should read a wide variety of topics in your niche and explain them to others in the form of blog post, ebooks, white papers, etc. Give it all for free without any strings attached. Encourage others to distribute your materials.

If you are not sharing some valuable information, somebody else will share it. You cannot hide any information. It is better to be the first mover than wondering how did everybody find it out.

6. Be prepared to change your mind set. The old school mindset for driving traffic is posting you site links everywhere. The social media mind set is establishing yourself as an expert and sharing your knowledge. Once people know that you are a good resource for solutions to their problems, they will come to your site and you can monetize your site in different ways.

If you are wondering how you are going to make money if you give every thing for free than you need to understand this new medium before you jump into the bandwagon by posting your URLs every hour. Your goal is to drive traffic to your site. Your site may monetize using a variety of methods like, third party advertisement, selling tutorials, affiliate marketing, selling memberships, etc.

7. Social media is a marketing tool set that you leverage to drive traffic to your web site. For leveraging this new medium, you need to establish yourself as a good community member first. Don’t be farcical like Walmart who paid to Jim and Laura to blog around the country in Walmart parking lots capturing stories of Walmart employees and how they loved to work at Walmart.

You may enjoy a short-lived traffic boost to your site, but it will not last longer. When the truth is exposed, it will be a public relation nightmare for you or your brand. Build your brand by telling the truth. There is nothing wrong if you are sponsored by a corporation, just reveal the truth.

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Fighting Recession With Social Media – Part 1

Should StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Twitter, or other social media applications going to be your only source of market research? Of course not, but social media offers an abundance of honest conversation from which business can gather a wide range of vital information.

As budgets are drying up entrepreneurs are turning, yet again, to technology, social media comes to the rescue. Words such as YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn would have been considered typos not too recently have become part of our corporate success dictionary. Social media offers companies inexpensive ways to improve their customer service, ramp up their customer service, learn more about their market, reduce their expenses, and more.

Improve your customer service

Having a conversation with your customers through social media is a new business skill. In an effort to improve its public image, Dell has made a conscious effort to connect with its customers through various social media channels such as blogs, forums, and various third-party websites. Dell had to appreciate that customers talked about their products online, and the company was forced to become part of the conversation. With a little help from their social media friend Dell managed to make improvements to its Latitude laptop. Note: It was a Dell laptop that exploded into flames at a conference in Japan.

Social media is the great equalizer as the story of Jeff Jarvis, an unhappy Dell customer, shows. Jarvis took on this giant of a company using his own blog. He managed to create awareness about customer concerns that had reached an international audience. Initially, Dell had ignored the blog voicing Jarvis’ concerns until his blog became the outlet for public conversation of customer issues. His blog, the BuzzMachine, has become the focus of Dell’s mistakes, poor customer service and flawed products.

The blogosphere doesn’t create the problems it simply brings them to light, and it makes it possible for business to address the issues at hand. Now, the CEOs of companies don’t have to take customer service managers word for it, they can learn about customer issues directly from the source. Some might argue that somehow this is a bad thing. On the contrary, with social media, companies and consumers can realize problems that need to be addressed. Customer engagement through social media could only hurt a company in the long run that is not interested in positive change. Instead of creating a problem social media brings a new level of efficiency to the corporate world.

Do more research

Market research is no longer a luxury only large companies can afford. Social media is the market research alternative for small and mid-size businesses that don’t have money to burn. Especially in a recession, market research is an essential part of a winning corporate strategy. Using social media, companies can carry out their own market research, and the best part is that it’s free.

Search for the topic of your choice on StumbleUpon and learn what people say. One of the greatest aspects of StumbleUpon is that marketers can easily find websites related to their market that they would never find on their own. Businesses can use this website to get instant feedback. The community is continually engaged providing constant opinion that result in a better product. A company might be developing new packaging for a product and get instant criticism from the online community. Something that might have taken weeks and months using traditional methods can be done in a matter of days or even hours. This method is not only fast, but it is also free.

LinkedIn, the social media outlet for grownups, is a rich and dynamic database, which can be searched, mined, and yield insightful and useful information to you and your business. Through its “Answers” feature LinkedIn serves as a valuable market research tool because it enables users to ask questions on virtually any topic, and expect to get answers quickly from the community. Executives can ask questions about products, services, trends, or any topic that might be useful to gain a better insight into their market. You can use the search feature to find people by industry, job title, company, or geographical location. The search results include vital corporate information.

Twitter, a micro blogging service, with its millions of users, offers a world of market intelligence for your business. Twitter is the killer app for marketers that are dying to become the fly on the wall as they are given the opportunity to listen in on public conversations about their market, social issues, products, services, or industry trends. Twitter provides near-real time intelligence on virtually any market.

Online Marketing Experts

Social Media ? Your Brand Reputation Depends on Doing It Right

Blogs, play a major role in influencing the purchasing decision amongst women in particular, and in a recent survey in the US, 85% of regular female blog readers said they were influenced to make a purchase as a result of a review or comment posted on a blog. So with that in mind, if you’re the company that gets it right, you have a good chance of getting the sale, but what happens if you are on the receiving end of a negative review or comment. How do you protect your brand and how should you respond?

As part of any social media strategy, it’s very important that the impact of social media on brand building and the impact blogs have on the purchasing decisions of consumers is considered and factored into your strategy.

A social media strategy is not just about Facebook and Twitter, which is what some so called “experts” will have you believe, it is and should always be treated as a Corporate Communications Strategy for your business.

Your customers can now read, listen, discuss and research their purchasing decisions and you need to work harder at customer service than ever before, if you are finding negative or damaging reviews about you,your brand or service then use this as a wake up call. The world of social media networks, business review sites and blogs has provided the disgruntled consumer with a voice.

Every employee in your company is now responsible for your brands reputation, and when you as a company, start to live up to your reputation, it becomes a lot easier to manage your brand effectively on line.

If you do find a negative review on any of the sites, resist the temptation to respond defensively and do not allow any of your staff to respond, you could put the Streisand effect in motion.

What can be used to deliver a negative can also be used to promote a positive, so use it wisely.

Remember it’s very hard to remove a negative comment or search engine result once it hits the web.

Mike Andrew owns and operates an Internet Marketing Consultancy on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Visit Mike’s web site at www.mikeandrewconsulting.com