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5 Big Changes Coming to Social Media in 2016

What does 2016 hold for social media. More new options for shopping and enabling us to share ever more vivid real-time experiences. Virtual reality, social shopping takes off, Facebook life takes live streaming mainstream, the social media’s deals gap at work widens, social media customer service get a lot better
SHOWTIME:

January 21, 2016 at 11:00:00 AM AKST 15 minutes

TAGS:

Social+media+marketing Social+media+2016 online+marketing SEO live+streaming far+north+media

CATEGORY:

Social Networking

VISIBILITY:

Public

SHORT LINK:

http://tobtr.com/s/8243209

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Here are 3 tips on social media marketing for small businesses

Tip #1: Use social media marketing to sell your products and services
Before major social media networks made the foray into e-commerce, the selling relationship for businesses looked like this: listen, help solve problems, and make the sale. With the rise of social selling, the opportunity to connect with potential customers during the research phase got much easier with social media monitoring and social media engagement tactics. These tactics changed the game for social media marketing for small business.
Tip #2: Large networks like Twitter can improve your customer relationships
With 72% of people more likely to make a future purchase from a small business after they interact with them on Twitter, there’s no reason for companies not to be on Twitter. The key to finding success on social media is to be on the social network your customers are on—and with over 200 million active users, there’s a high chance many of your customers are on Twitter. Twitter can help your business build relationships with customers, and connect you with the businesses and communities you are interested in. Using features like advanced Twitter search and Twitter lists, building and improving customer relationships online is manageable even with a small team.
Tip #3: Social media marketing can drastically increase your reach
Facebook and Twitter advertising have made it possible for companies to increase their reach through targeted ads and sponsored messaging. Social media marketing provides businesses with an opportunity to reach customers across the world—as opposed to a more traditional advertising medium such as a billboard, which is only visible to people on a particular route in a single city.

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So what is the key to creating authentic customer relationships?

An Albert Einstein quote says it all when it comes to the relationship era in business, “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Simply switch “man” to “brand.” The only way for organizations to achieve lasting success is to create authentic customer relationships. Not even all the money in the world spent on cool social media campaigns, viral videos, or the most micro-targeted online ads will achieve this.
So what is the key to creating authentic customer relationships?
Of course, a solid product or service is necessary to start. But in order to grow and remain relevant to customers, companies must demonstrate genuine behaviors, too. These include sincerity, transparency, shared values, and a noble mission beyond the bottom line.

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far north media, alaska, seo, social media consultanting

The best managers are always those who have the ability

The best managers are always those who have the ability to lead their team by personal example. It is one of the hardest skills to master – but get it right and the results will be well worth all the effort.

When you look at a team or a group from the outside it’s easy to spot the difference between an inspirational leader and one who has to rely on using strong-arm tactics.

If a manager is constantly having to check on people’s work and is chase his or her staff, then it is a sure sign that something is going wrong.

A good manager will have a fully committed group of people behind him or her who understand the importance of working together as a unit towards a shared goal and aims.

To get to that position the very best managers need to be able to inspire those around them and the only way to do that is to lead to by example.

In any walk of life and in any sector one of the first things a good manager should do is to demonstrate that they fully understand the skills and expertise needed to carry out the work. That is not the same as the manager rolling up their sleeves and doing the task themselves, it’s simply about fully understanding the work and how people should go about it.

Secondly, the best leaders will expect commitment and hard work from their staff but they also have to demonstrate the same level of dedication. If you are expecting people to go that extra mile for you then you have to be with them every step of way.

Good communication should also be at the heart of everything a good manager does. The very best leaders are the ones who can describe clearly to their team members exactly what is expected from them.

Communication is always a two way process which means as well as expressing yourself, if you want to win over staff then you have to be able to listen to people and take on board their views and opinions.

For a team to function properly everyone needs to know they will receive the same kind of treatment. There should always be a level playing field, and if you have favourites then you will be asking for trouble and cannot expect any kind of loyalty in return.

Finally and perhaps most importantly of all, one of the key qualities when it comes to leadership is the ability to be decisive under pressure. Leadership is all about making decisions and sticking to those decisions. When a crisis comes along one of the worst things you can do is doing nothing at all.

Not everyone will make the right decision every time but appearing indecisive at critical moments can fatally undermine your position as a leader.

Inspiration is not all about making great speeches and being a tough taskmaster. It is more about leading from the front and showing your true mettle when it matters the most.

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far north media, alaska, seo, social media consultanting

Using social networks, SEO, and content marketing together is a good practice

What do you think of when you think of SEO?

It used to be this mysterious thing . You’d write your articles, then “SEO” them for greater success (as if SEO were a verb), hoping against hope that they’d move up the search engine result page. Then the uber cool and hip people came into town with this thing called content marketing that was ever so much more sophisticated and white hat, as opposed to the black hat techniques they assumed were used by SEO experts.

(Incidentally, if you’re still thinking SEO something you “do” to your article,” read on!)

With the transition to content marketing, it’s easy to think that the two are somehow mutually exclusive. That SEO and content marketing are two opposed activities.

And honestly – that’s garbage, as is the idea that SEO is a verb – something that you “do” to your article.

Here’s the thing. Using social networks, SEO, and content marketing together is more of a wholistic, step by step, synergistic process than it is something you do to information. It happens when you write interesting material that is relevant to your audience. You write it in such a way contextually that it naturally gives signals to search engines that your site is useful, relevant, and authoritative.

Together – social networks, content marketing, and SEO are three parts of a whole marketing strategy online that together, have amazing potential to build your business.

But these days, it’s not just about building and growing your brand.

Honestly – it’s also about staying open! You see, the idea that any of these pieces is just a fad is absolutely mistaken, and could have dire consequences for your organization! Look at it this way – your audience is online. When they are looking for any new product or service, what’s the first thing that they’re going to do? They’re going to “google it!” They’re going to look for more information or for someone who sells your product or service using the power of a search engine (most likely Google, but occasionally others as well).

By Elizabeth Maness

http://assistsocialmedia.com/how-content-marketing-and-seo-work-together-rock-your-business/

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