Social networking has turned into a frenzy of people creating Facebook profiles, Tweeting and blogging. But do you know if it is working for you? I mean, are people coming from Twitter & Facebook to your site?

There are two things that you need to know in order to track the success of your social media campaign:

1. Is anyone coming to your site? With the tracking options that exist today, you don’t always need your web manager to collect this. But you do need to know how many people are visiting your site. And this is not “hits”. These are real people. While you’re checking numbers on your stats program, also check the referring urls. This can tell you quickly if they are coming from Facebook, Twitter or your favorite blogs.

2. If they are coming–and I mean at least 100 visitors/day–then you can look at your conversion. How many people are opting in to your “special”? What are they doing on your site when they get there?

This is really important information that everyone who has a website for selling must know in order to track the success of your social media and your website!

How Do You Know If Your Social Networking Efforts Are Making You Money?

It’s easy to spend a lot of time and even have a lot of fun “chatting” on all these social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. But do you know if all this “chatter” is translating into revenue for your business? Take this short survey to discover how you rate.
Click Here to take survey

This is a MUST-READ for everyone who wants to know more about social media including Facebook and Twitter. My good friend Mari does a fabulous job of laying out the “ABC”s of social media in the article she just posted on her blog.

According to Mari, the ABC’s are:

• Automate
• Broadcast
• Connect
• Delegate
• Evaluate

She also provides a slew of options for simplifying the whole process. I have taught most of these to my clients as well!

Make sure you read her article and let me know what you think! Does this remove some of the “mystery” of social media for you? Article - The ABC’s of Social Media

As a good friend and raving fan of Mari Smith, I make sure to read all of her blog posts (and much of her other social media activities). Earlier this week, she posted an interesting article about someone who “hijacked” her tweet that included a link to a company she was endorsing. The person changed out her link with his own company’s link so that it looked like she was endorsing HIS company and then retweeted.

I am sure this has happened before, but I hadn’t heard of it. In fact, it had never occurred to me that people would do that. I am sharing this story and a link to her newest blog post that updates the story as I think it is a must-read for anyone participating in social media including Twitter.

Read the story here.

Let me know your thoughts!

MaryPat

PS. Thanks Mari, for sharing this incident and for keep us in the loop on the most positive ending!

GUEST POST FROM JOAN STEWART (see credits at bottom of post)

I’m not mentioning any names.

But when I read the social networking profiles of some of my friends and business associates, I think to myself: “You’re really interesting. And you’re lots of fun. You even have unusual hobbies. So why are you making yourself sound so boring?”

Yes, that little snippet of information just below your photo on your Twitter or Facebook profiles can determine whether a visitor follows you, friends you, or decides that you have nothing to offer and leaves in search of somebody else who does.

On LinkedIn, that much longer profile will determine whether somebody wants to connect with you, or forget you.

I can’t begin to count the number of Twitter replies and direct messages from my followers who comment on my love for the Food Network and motorycles, which I’ve mentioned in my profile at http://Twitter.com/PublicityHound

What does that have to do with publicity?

Absolutely nothing. (more…)

It still amazes me that when I ask people WHY they “need” to use social networking as part of their marketing plans, 9 out of 10 people still don’t know. In fact, it hasn’t even occurred to them. They are just “jumping on the band wagon”, or so to speak.

Although, to give them credit, the ones who aren’t yet active in social networking are probably subconsciously aware that they don’t know why they should be.

But for everyone reading this article, please take note: (more…)

Contact:

Jacki Wojcik
The UpLevel Agency
866.615.8150
jacki@uplevelagency.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 22, 2008

Award-Winning Business Coach, Kelly O’Neil and Social Media Expert, MaryPat Kavanagh Team Up to Take BiztechDay By Storm

Expert Duo to Speak at Genius Desk During Small Business Technology Expo;   O’Neil To Moderate “How to Make Your Blog, Video, Podcast, Social Network Viral” Panel (more…)

According to my friend, Lorie Gonzales, networking is more than just “working a room”. It is about forming honest sincere relationships that benefit you, the other person, your careers and your lives. It allows you to connect not only with other people, but with new ideas and information, better business practices, job opportunities, potential customers and vendors. The following are ten steps to effective networking. I have added how each step should be achieved in the virtual world of “social networking”.

•  Adopt an attitude of self-confidence and start with a positive attitude.
  • ¨       “Meet the people, meet the people, and meet the people.” In other words, mingle; don’t spend all your time with just one or two guests.
  • ·         ONLINE: In social networking, if you aren’t having conversations with your new connections, then you are just standing in the corner. If you wouldn’t do that in a live networking event, then don’t do it online either.
• The number one rule is “Attraction vs. Promotion”.
• ONLINE: Set yourself up to “attract” the right people. You do this by “wearing the right clothes. Oh yeah, we are online. So you do this by sharing the right information. Share info about YOU, not about what you do.