Five Affordable Ways to Create Video Marketing Content

There are many ways to create video marketing content that will make you stand out without access to a production studio or require spending thousands of dollars. Take a look at some of my five easy, and affordable steps you can take to show your viewers you’re worth their time and money:

1. Create a Video Yourself

This is, of course, the most obvious option. You don’t need professional equipment. You can easily start out with a computer webcam, mobile phone, or any video recorder that you have access to. What matters the most is not the technology you use but your concept and how well you present it to viewers.

2. Outsource Your Video Creation

You may already be familiar with the process of outsourcing other aspects of your business, like web design or writing and editing services. Video creation is no different and is often extremely well produced at very affordable prices. Check into outsourcing portals like IVAA.org or VANetwork.com, post a job listing, and check out the freelancers that contact you. Keep in mind that outsourcing video production will be easier if you already have an idea in mind before you seek support. In your job postings, detail exactly what you need the service provider to do for you and choose the provider that you feel will give you the best results.

3. Utilize User-Generated Content or Testimonials

This one is especially great if your online business already has a loyal following. Simply contact one of your previous clients and tell them that you’d like them to participate in a short video testimonial. You will most likely have more success if you sweeten the deal by offering them a discount on their next purchase, offer to include a link to their website or some other kind of reward. After proposing the idea to several of your past clients or customers, you will not only have excellent video content, but you will have also strengthened your relationship with your existing customers – and that discount or reward could potentially net you a few extra sales as well!

4. Use Public Domain Footage Already Available

There are literally hundreds of video clips in the public domain, and many are readily available for download online. Take a look at a few and use them to create your own video content. Don’t forget that there is plenty of music in the public domain, too. With these public domain assets, you can easily put together your own online video for the purpose of marketing your brand, your products, or your services.

5. Purchase Pre-made or Stock Video Content

Slightly different than outsourcing, there are various marketplaces online where you can find high quality, pre-made video content for sale. You may have experience in buying website templates or graphics, and this is no different. You can buy what you need to create an entire video, or just get the footage you need to add on to your current creation and make it fit your specific need.

These are just a few of the most popular ways to develop low-budget yet effective video marketing content. You can choose one or a combination of all of these options. What matters is, through any of these five ways, you can develop content that is unique to your business without breaking the bank and create video content that will help promote and grow your business.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan with her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected]

Can You Really Use Articles to Build Your List?

Getting clients and prospects to visit your site can be ranked as high as the importance of the quality and the excellence of the product and the services you provide. They should go hand in hand in providing your customers the satisfaction they get in exchange for the money they have paid for them. Superior customer service should also be a top priority so that customers are provided with a consistent and satisfying experience with your company.

One of the ways you can combine marketing and customer service is through opt-in marketing. With an opt-in list you get the opportunity to introduce your site and products on a regular basis. This is a marketing strategy that is virtually low cost and not very time consuming. Here, you get the consent of your website visitors to subscribe to your electronic newsletters or other promotional materials such as catalogs and free reports (white papers).

Opt-in marketing uses your list of subscribers to send email to them on a regular basis. These e-mails can address a number of things like specials, promotions and the announcement of a new product or service.  However, I believe the best way to do this is to provide fun, entertaining and informational articles.

Well written articles full of content and useful information will help in building your list as more subscribers will be enticed by your offerings, and hungry for more information and resources.

Many sites and companies have realized the importance of articles and their importance in search engine optimization. As more people are heading towards the internet for their informational needs, serving the right information to them via articles on your site will increase the flow of your website traffic.  With more traffic, the percentage of your sales will grow. More sales turn into more profit.

There has been a rise in the importance of well written, information enriched and keyword packed articles for site content as well as for newsletters. These articles provide the information many are seeking. If your site has interesting information, more people will be going to your site to see what information you will provide next.

Well written articles would also help boost your reputation. If the information you provide is of benefit to your target market you will increase your level of expertise in your area of specialization.  Be sure your articles are well researched so that people will trust you. When you have gained their trust, they will always come to you for their needs on that subject.

Be sure you write articles that tackle subjects that are closely connected with your type of business. If you have a site selling products that tackle a certain problem or challenge to your prospects, your articles need to be written on those topics. Most sought out articles are for tips, guidelines, methods, manuals and such. If you provide these articles to your clients and prospects,  and you have their trust, they will always go to your site for help and advice as well as for your products.

With the loyalty of these clients, they may subscribe to your opt-in list to receive all the information you have. If you provide them with the answers for that need, they will be happy to receive your newsletters as well as other promotional materials to keep them well informed. Others may even forward your newsletters to other people when they find a certain article interesting.

You should provide links in your newsletter so that when other people are reading it and want to read more, they may click on the link and go to your site. Well written articles will attract more sign-ups for your opt-in list and make it even bigger.

Make sure to keep your subscribers happy and interested in your newsletters and promotional materials. Keep on posting and writing good articles for your site and newsletter. If you are not interested in writing them or if you just don’t have the time, there are many available well experienced and knowledgeable writers available to help you out including those on our team. This is an investment that will pay for itself in time.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan with her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected]

Five Areas That Help Expand Your Business Branding Online

Promoting your business branding online is somewhat different from typical marketing strategies. You need to take a unique approach to this method of promoting your business brand. And yet, the benefits of using Web tools in making your brand distinct includes the ability to maximize your business efforts and expanding your business’ reach.

After all, it only makes sense to extend your branding efforts to the Internet given the fact that most people nowadays use the Internet as their source of daily information and research tool before a purchase is made.

There are five (5) major areas that you need to address when developing a strong business brand online.

URL Address

This is a crucial determiner for web browsers. Therefore, you must be able to produce a sense of identity for your website and provide a glimpse into your company even before they get the opportunity to see what your website is really about.  This also helps in your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.  The search engines will search URLs first to find the targeted keywords people submit when looking for your product or service.

Keywords

Keywords are essential to help search engines connect you to the proper audience. Use keywords that are related to the nature of your website, so that it can be easily detected when people run a search on the Internet. Try to be creative in coming up with keywords to use, especially those queries not directly related but associated to your business.  Be sure to add keywords to all your individual website pages as well as including them in the titles and content of your blog posts.

Website

This is where you get to showcase your company’s vision and your offer of quality products or services. Therefore, you must create a website that speaks for your company and its brand. There are several ways to do that, which includes the content, style, design, and color. You must also incorporate your company logo in the design of the website, to enhance the level of trust and confidence you want potential clients to have about you and your company.  With that in mind, try to refrain from compromising the substance of your website for style. A website is just another form of marketing strategy and its objective is to communicate your company’s message.

Blog

Your blog is basically where you focus on producing quality content. This will help establish your company’s brand and expertise making you the authority when it comes to the products or services you offer. This will also help you to differentiate yourself from your competitors. You can do this by remaining consistent with your vision and highlighting your focus on producing a quality result for your clients.

Social Profiles

There are several social networking sites online such as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, among others. When you join any one of these social sites, always include your company culture or brand. This will help visitors to easily remember your company and keep you on top of their list.

Now that you know the five areas that help expand your brand Online, here are several Do’s and Don’ts you may also want to consider:

Business Branding Online Do’s and Dont’s

• Utilizing social network sites that you are interested in is an avenue to promote your brand online and is beneficial to your business. They allow you to make connections and expand the reach of your brand. Connecting with more people on these sites will build traffic to your website and blog.

• Just write useful and quality content on your site. When people begin to realize the importance of your site’s content, it will eventually impact your rankings on the search engines.

• Try to offer good advice or solutions for your target market, but don’t be a spammer since it would basically ruin your business’ reputation.

Business branding online can and will expand your reach and enhance your branding efforts to produce additional growth for your company.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan with her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected]

Helpful Marketing Tips for Busy Entrepreneurs

Like most business owners, you’re a busy person and at times it’s downright impossible to wear all the hats you need to wear in order to make your business successful. We’re here to make your life simpler and this article is going to offer some tips on areas that are no doubt time consuming for you.

Internet Marketing:

What are you trying to accomplish with your online presence? What do you want to do with your website? The answer here is to drive more traffic, but how? When you have developed your marketing plan and begin implementing it, start with one goal. Maybe it’s to get your phone ringing more; then make your marketing efforts around reaching that goal.

Set goals – Setting goals for your business is important – but how do you know if you’ve reached them? Set goals are only as good as the plan you have in place to measure them. How are you measuring your business goals?

Competition – Know what your competition is doing. Visit their website and online forums. What are others saying about them?

Blogging – If you aren’t blogging yet – start! A blog is a simple and quick way to begin establishing yourself as an expert in your field, driving traffic to your site and increasing your bottom line.

Social Media in Your Business

There is no question that social media has forever changed the business of doing business. It has changed the way we operate on a daily basis and how we deal with clients, customers and prospects.

Social media reminds us that our grandpa’s way of marketing is no longer a viable way to get your business noticed. Today’s consumers no longer fall for (or even want any part of) the “hard sell”, they want to know that the business they are dealing with – big or small – has a human side that they can learn to know, like and trust.

The best way to establish that “know, like and trust” factor is to reach your customers, clients and prospects on their level. Establish your online presence, reach out and be social!

Email Marketing

If you’re doing it the right way, email marketing can allow you to build a list of interested and responsive readers who look forward to getting your email every time.

But email marketing is more than just throwing together an email and sending it out haphazardly. The process, while simple, once on a set schedule, does take a little effort to put together. You will need to first choose a third-party provider that will help you reach your readers on a schedule. You will also need to know the “rules” of email marketing – no profanity, making sure your message is supported by multiple email clients and that your readers have opted in to receive your emails and that you aren’t sending spam.

The most important thing to remember when it comes to these marketing tips and your marketing efforts as a whole, is to be consistent. Marketing is a marathon not a sprint – take your time, do it right and you will come out on top!

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan with her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected]

It’s Time to Stop Selling and Start Building Relationships

For many of us, sales is a four letter word; something that causes us stress and anxiety.  So I say, “stop selling then!”.  Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?  So what do I mean?

Instead of trying to close a sale, try to build a relationship and see if that doesn’t allow the client to close the sale for you.  It’s really all about your client, or potential client, not you.  With that in mind, let’s come up with some questions you could ask a client, or prospect that might open a door to using your products or services.

  • Tell me about a recent project you’ve been working on?
  • Is this the type of thing you love to do?
  • Are you getting the results you need and achieving your goals?
  • What’s your biggest challenge right now in moving your business forward?

Remember to keep the conversation flowing, and positive.  You should be doing more listening than speaking, and even if it doesn’t present a problem that you can solve; who do you know who might be able to assist THEM?

If it does present you with an opportunity to solve a problem, you might say something like, ‘would it be beneficial if you had someone to partner with to achieve this goal, or solve this problem?’  If they respond positively, explain the benefits of working with you and how you can produce the results they are looking for.  Then be quiet. 

If they have an interest they’ll ask for more.  Try to continue to offer positive reinforcement for solving the problem and ask what would happen if they did not solve the problem; or how important it would be to get more positive results, etc.  This will help them see the need to get help or support and ‘close the sale’ for themselves.   

This is a great way to let clients and prospects know that you really are interested in them, not in selling to them.  I think we would all agree that we do not like being sold to, so why do it?  The bonus is this takes that four letter word (sale) out of the equation and makes for a more positive and beneficial relationship.  Win-win, I say!  

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan with her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected]

Direct Marketing Basics

Direct marketing can make you very successful, but you’ve got to understand the basics.  Here are some more gems of the industry that can take you from being a diamond in the rough to the luminous bling-bling.

When advertising your product or service, honesty is not only the legal and ethical path, but also the path to the highest amount of repeat business.

Many times companies fall into the trap of trying to “lure” customers into their business. They make claims that are technically true but are worded in a way that make them sound better than they actually are. The company may not be consciously trying to deceive their customers, but none the less if exactly what is advertised is not delivered, the customer will feel deceived. This customer is not likely to do business with this company no matter what their advertising offers in the future.  List the benefits of your product factually and deliver what is promised and your customers will keep coming back. In fact, I suggest you OVER-deliver!

When advertising, it is best to outline the benefits of your product or service.  Simply naming the features that it has may not show what it can actually do for your customer.

Example: A car company releases a new model of car that features “new indestructible porcelain brakes”. This fact is touted in all of their commercials, but the cars aren’t flying off the lot. It is very likely that the customers in their target market, mostly families that are concerned about safety, have no idea what difference these brakes make in the performance of the vehicle.  If they had instead advertised the benefit that the car is “equipped with brakes that can stop your car three times faster” it would have given the customer a compelling reason to be interested.

Think about what the benefit of your product or service is and focus on that. If you are a computer maintenance company your product may be “server management and database maintenance” but you will be better off saying that you can help “increase office productivity by allowing easier access to client files”. Many times your customers don’t understand your business. That is why they have to hire you. Make sure to explain to them not only what you do, but how it can help them.

When a customer gives you their email address you have one more way to get your message to them.

One of the best ways to supplement Direct Mail Marketing is Direct Email

Marketing. However, unlike direct mail marketing, unsolicited email marketing is not your best option. You can’t just go out and buy a list of email addresses and start sending messages to them. There is one way to purchase lists for emailing called “opt in” lists but this method is not recommended because the rate of people on the list that actually “opt in” to receiving your promo is very low. This is why you should always collect customers’ email addresses as you are getting their physical addresses.

Also, be sure not to overwhelm your customers with too much email promotion.  I recommend not sending more than one email per week to each client.  Not only will this keep you from angering your customers; it will also keep up the interest level and keep your emails from getting deleted before they are even opened.

If your company is planning on emailing specials or a Monthly Email Newsletter, you will need to have a good list for them to be effective. If you are not planning on contacting customers and prospects via email, you should be!

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan with her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com/, or contact her at [email protected]

Does Someone Really Need Me?

I’m sure we’d all agree that the world is definitely changing.  Watching the national news usually doesn’t leave me encouraged.  I recently attended a Chamber event where the guest speaker spoke all about change and why it’s good for us to continue to grow and change, no matter what the economic climate.

I totally agree.  I used to balk at change, tried to avoid it, but nowadays I embrace change and at times, go out in search of change – new technologies and processes that make life easier for me, and my clients.

Maybe it’s something that comes with age.  All I know is I need much less than I used to, I don’t worry about hardly anything (it’s all small stuff anyway), and I feel much more at ease than ever before in my life.

Since the first of the year, my business has been steadily growing, and I’ve added new clients regularly.  While some of the needs and technologies have changed, the basic premise has not.  I work with clients who understand the value of their own time.

Clients don’t necessarily come to my business because they ‘need’ me, they come because they have a problem to solve, or they want to find out more about Internet marketing and how to expand and grow their own businesses.  If I’m not helping them be more successful, they not only won’t need me, they probably won’t want me either. 🙂

I know of many other small business owners who are struggling right now.  What is it that I do differently that shields me from this struggle?  I believe it’s an entrepreneurial mindset.  I understand what it takes to run a business, which not only helps me stay profitable, but also helps my clients stay profitable.  I don’t just have good skills, I have good business practices.  And I only work with clients who share the same mindset and practices that I do. 

It’s also not just business, it’s about building relationships.  Not only client relationships, but relationships with people that solve all sorts of problems I may not.  It really allows me to develop a much deeper relationship.  I knew all that networking would come in handy some day!

Whether you want to call it the Law of Attraction, or just plain old horse sense, if I surround myself with successful, talented people, and I continue to attend seminars and trainings, I’m sure to bring something of value to my clientele, and my own business.

Having a mindset that helps me to understand that I’m not the right fit for everyone, helps to expand my network to include others who do what I do, or what I don’t, so that I am able to refer prospects to someone who is better skilled to solve their problems and challenges.  This is a big part of the value I bring to the table, and feeds into my passion. 

Without that, I wouldn’t be doing what I believe I’m here to do – help people.  I am absolutely passionate about what I do, and I LOVE being able to do it.  I hope you have found your passion and are doing what you LOVE, too.  If not, take some time to re-invent yourself and work on your entrepreneurial mindset.  How bad could that be?   

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan with her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com, or contact her at [email protected]

Two Ways to Optimize Social Media for Maximum Results

There are hundreds of case studies built to highlight social media’s strength as a traffic generation platform. There are hundreds more explaining its ability to increase participation and inspire users to complete specific actions. What the industry is missing is an authoritative case study on one of the most important success metrics out there: its value for sales-driven businesses.

Sure, there are pieces of information out there, maybe even a rough outline or two. What’s missing isn’t the potential for optimized sales results to happen – any social media marketer knows how worthwhile the medium is as a sales tool – but a scientific look at the improvements that can help it increase the bottom line of small, independent, everyday businesses.

These two tips can help you do just that, whether for your own independent operation or as part of a larger organization. Don’t worry – none require technical wizardry or complex coding skills – just a basic understanding of social media and enough time to carry out some basic A/B or split testing.

1) Exclude more people from your community.

At its heart, social media is about community. Seth Godin highlighted the value of a leader-guided online community in Tribes, explaining that a dedicated and enthusiastic online group can create more than the sum of its parts with the right leadership. But that group can’t succeed without a goal that’s shared, and sometimes creating that common goal requires eliminating some members.

Don’t fence off your group after you’ve spent years building it – instead, set up some light rules for participation before you make it public. Excluding people based on their membership or customer status may not seem particularly social, but it can lead to a community experience that’s often lost on larger social networking groups and open forums.

2) Add sales-driven elements to all of your social media presences, and start testing.

For marketers, social media is about both community and commerce. There’s no value in an online community lacking any commercial intent, just as there’s little value in web traffic that simply isn’t interested in buying. Adding sales-driven elements into your social media pages may scare away a collection of uninterested users, but it comes with a surge in the proportion of sales-friendly users.

By guiding your users through sales-driven actions, collecting data, and generating test sales, you can quickly and easily grow to understand the commercial makeup of your audience. Some users may be the buying type, interested in quick results and guided success, while others may show an interest in products, services, and offers that you previously never expected to discover.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan with her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com, or contact her at [email protected]

Writing Blog Content to Attract Visitors

There are literally millions of bloggers on the Web covering just about any topic you can think of.  So how can your attract visitors to come to your blog and read your posts?

Your blog content and the use of keywords, plays a big role in attracting people to your blog.  If your content is consistently interesting to the people you are targeting, they will return to your blog page over and over, and may even sign up to your feed.

We’re going to discuss the type of content that is suitable for your blog in order to make it profitable. First off, I want you to understand that there is no fixed scope that your blog should have, which means you can write about whatever you’re interested in.

However, the difference between a profitable blog and a non-profitable blog is the way the blog is written. Just imagine, would you prefer to read your university professor’s lecture notes or the latest novel by your favorite author?

You may prefer to read the novel because it appeals more to your interest, or because it is not as mind-numbing as the lecture notes by your professor.

However, the most important point is people like to read “light” stuff most of the time. You see, when people log on to your blog, they are not only looking for information – they are also looking for information they can obtain easily, and better still in a relaxed manner.

So, to attract more visitors as well as to keep your current visitors coming back for more, it is very important to add a human touch to your blog posts. This can be done by simply imagining you’re talking about a certain topic with your personal friend. An extra bonus for your readers would be a great sense of humor, so try to add funny comments in your articles where they are suitable.

Another important key point is to avoid addressing your reader as a plural unit. What I mean is you should not write as if you’re preparing a speech. Instead, you should write as if you’re having a conversation with a single person because this will make your visitor think of you more as a personal friend rather than a person of higher authority.

Besides that, it is also very useful to establish your own personality through your words. Human beings are very curious creatures, so naturally your visitors would want to know as much about you as the information you’re offering them.

Having a distinctive personality in your blog would make a world of difference between your blog about gadgets and all the other blogs about gadgets out there. This is a lot like creating your own brand name, where people immediately remember your blog’s name when they need to find out information about gadgets, just like people immediately think of McDonald’s for fastfood or Nike for sportswear.

So, simply write as an equal friend to your visitors, write to them as if you’re talking to them alone and establish your own personality on your blog.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan with her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com, or contact her at [email protected]

The Four Biggest Social Network Marketing Blunders

Unlike other forms of online marketing, social media marketing has no stone-set right and wrong behaviors; no cost-per-user statistics, and there is, by no means, a code of conduct or behavioral plan that must be adhered to. While pay-per-click advertisers and SEO experts are inundated with information on what is and is not effective, social media marketers are left without dedicated and accurate information.

That certainly does not mean that social media is not governed by some form of assumptions and expectations. It is social; and is controlled by collective opinion and user discussions. These four social media faux pas are unlikely to get you thrown off social media websites or banned from the discussion altogether, but they are best avoided for social media marketing success.

Using deceptive affiliate tactics.

Back in 2004, MySpace was the king of the social media stratosphere and spam was out of control. Hidden comments, fake “friend me” requests, and endless blog posts all led to shady affiliate offers and utterly deceptive advertising banners.

There has since been a transformation within social media, one that has fought back against these tactics. The new social media environment accepts promotion and commercial influence, but dislikes being aggressively marketed to. As long as you keep your social media marketing tactics soft, value-filled, and useful, you will be rewarded with success. If you end up using an outdated and selfish strategy, you are likely to be rejected.

Pay-per-post marketing.

Blogs are part of the social media realm and are held to the same standards of behavior as any other service. They are treated as an outlet, yet at the same time neglected by users that could contribute. More than anything else, blogs are abandoned when they offer nothing beyond commercial use. Remember that, while your blog can be a money-maker, it may mean significantly more to your audience than it does to yourself.

Thin, fake, and generic conversation.

Marketing expert Seth Godin has often asked his readers whether it’s truly worth engaging in social media if your message is dry and generic. Many have seen the light, realizing that his suggestion was not to give up social media entirely, but to change their approach to become more unique and influential.

Social media communities can and will ignore you when you have nothing interesting to say. Join the conversation, but do not treat it as something you can’t change. Offer information and value beyond what is currently available, and you will be embraced, appreciated, and financially rewarded; share the same old information and you will quickly fall out of favor.

The “friend everyone” approach.

The “friend everyone” approach is normally seen much like the affiliate strategy used by thousands of marketers in an attempt to reach a large audience in little time. It is a classic spam tactic, and it is one that is rarely successful for social media marketers.

The top Twitter users are not necessarily those with the most followers, just like the most popular Facebook pages are not those with the most fans. Build real relationships and you will be rewarded with loyalty; friend everyone that comes your way and you will end up with weak and utterly worthless online connections.

Jeannine Grich, CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, provides marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. For information about finding a VA, download her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or to learn why Social Media should be an important part of your marketing plan with her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: https://accbizsvc.com, or contact her at [email protected]