Jump Start your Business with Video and Social Networking
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This month, we will learn about using social marketing tools to enhance your company’s visibility on the Internet. This article teaches you how to make and use videos to spread the word, how to market your site through Facebook, and give an introduction to social network marketing. First, decide on one niche area to focus on. You can add more areas of focus later, but in online marketing it’s important to focus very sharply on one type of customer or product type. Product type examples are home and garden, home decor, collectibles, electronics. You can also specialize in a type of marketing, such as home parties, flea markets, trade shows, etc. Choosing one area to focus on is important in online marketing. Again, you can come back and choose more types later; pay strict attention to only one for now to work it out to its fullest potential. Spend weeks or months exploring an entire niche or aspect before adding another. Craft your site around your chosen aspect, so that visitors who arrive will see that you cater to their desires – they responded to your social marketing, so you should deliver on that when they do show up at your site. Now that you have chosen which niche to focus on with your site and your marketing campaign, we’ll talk about how to create a video, and how to begin marketing your site with social networking. Promote your business with video A video is a very engaging media. A short and interesting video can capture a viewer’s attention long enough to deliver a message. Tell them what your business does, who you help, and why they want to shop from you. You can promote your business with video in a variety of ways... When deciding on content, think about your business niche and focus. Ask yourself a few questions first:
Who are your customers? What is appealing to them, both visually and ideally? How can you best express your niche to them? What kind of call to action will work best with your potential customers?
Make your video Inexpensive Web cameras install directly to your computer or a notebook and can save the video right to your hard drive. New high definition video cameras capture amazing detail, and with the ability to store video on digital format (compared to film), you can record as much as you like without spending more on film. Then, show the best video, and you can delete the rest.  If you don’t want to use a video camera, there are ways to make video with a “still” camera (one that takes pictures instead of video). You can make a slideshow set to music, which shows pictures you’ve taken of your booth at a trade show, your storefront, products in use, happy customers, and your pet dog – choose pictures that make sense for your business niche.
Click the below links to see some example slideshow videos: Even if you don’t have access to a digital camera, you can use existing pictures of SMC products to create your slideshow. For some suggestions on ways to create a slideshow video, and specific instructions on how to create your own slideshow, see our Make Promotional Videos page. Promote your videos If you choose to upload directly to video sharing sites, you should upload to YouTube, Metacafe, Revver, and several others. You must have an account with each service that you want to upload files to. On each video service or networking site your video is on, fill out your profiles as completely as possible. Other viewers respect your submissions more when they realize you’re a real person with a real business. Once your videos are online, add as much information as you can to the video. Even though TubeMogul uploaded your videos to these other sites, visit the videos and Edit their details.
Don’t forget to ask your viewers to send the video to other people. Sometimes telling them what action you expect of them is enough to get them to do it. “If you like what you see, send the video to a friend!” Add as much appropriate text as makes sense for the video. You want to be expressive so that viewers know what it’s about, and use as many different descriptive terms as possible so that search engines know what the link is for. Remember that the video is to here to tell people about your business, so take the opportunity to fill them in. Don’t just say, “Check this video out.” Say, “At Sample Site, you can find great housewarming gifts for the new homeowners in your life. Get a great discount – enter Coupon Code VIDEO522 for 20% off!” Say something in the description to encourage people to watch the video. “Watch this video for a coupon code you can use on Sample Site – the coupon code is mentioned in the video!” After the videos are listed on several services, start promoting the videos. TubeMogul has many tools to help promote videos, and you should explore them all. They also have pages which give advice on promoting your videos. Whether or not you are using TubeMogul to distribute your videos, there are many other ways you can encourage viewers:
Promote your business with Facebook See a sample Facebook business page created with the Site Manager Facebook feature and these instructions. Facebook is a social network which many people already have accounts on. Even if someone does not have an account on Facebook, the name is so well trusted that people have no problems creating an account there to participate in your social network. Once you have a Facebook page, people can join your social network by becoming a fan of your page. Once they are a fan of your page, they can see changes made to the page, receive updates you send to them, and interact with each other. They can also invite new people to your page – this is the advantage of social marketing. Happy customers spread the word for you. And it’s easy to spread the word on Facebook, which makes it an ideal place to have your Web presence. eMerchantClub has created a feature to help you make a successful business page. To set up your Facebook page from your Site Manager, you must have a version 9.03 or higher Super Deluxe e-commerce site, or purchase the Social Networks feature from our Web Promotions department at 888-919-7627. You must also already have a Facebook account. To create one for free now, go to facebook.com and create your account. For instructions on setting it up, see the manual page about Facebook. Setting up the Facebook page
Add a logo or picture Add a description
Add events to the Event module
When people interested in this type of event receive your invitation, it’s a great opportunity for them to join your Facebook page, which allows them to receive your updates and invites to other events automatically! Use the Photos module to tag friends If the person is already on Facebook, they will be notified that they have been tagged in a photo. Also, their friends will be notified about the tag. The people can click on a link to see the picture, which is on your business page. If the person is not already on Facebook, then Facebook sends an e-mail to them inviting them to become your friend and view the photo. Add discussions to the Discussion Board module Take every opportunity you can to be involved in these conversations – that’s the strength of a social networking community. Start the discussion yourself by adding a few discussions to the Discussion Board module. Here’s a few ideas for discussions you can start:
Ask customers what kinds of products they would like to see Give some advice on how to get your best deals Give some advice that matches your niche If your business focuses on home decor, give some decorating tips. If your niche is home parties, tell people how to plan for, decorate for, and host a home party.
Review the site Next, get some family and friends involved in the site. Get them to sign up as fans, and ask them for input and suggestions. Continue to improve the page. Compare it to other business sites on Facebook, take some ideas from them on how to make your business have a professional image on Facebook. When you’re done polishing your site, it’s time to promote the Facebook page. Promote your Facebook page
Promoting with video and social networking In addition to the methods mentioned above, you can use other online services to spread the word.
The version 9.03 Super Deluxe eCommerce site by eMerchantClub has social bookmarking features which you can enable on your storefront. These allow a shopper to submit your pages to Digg, Facebook, MySpace, Del.icio.us, and StumbleUpon. Social marketing is a team effort. Don’t be afraid to ask your customers to join you in the virtual world and support you online. They can show their support by becoming a Fan of your Facebook page and participating in the discussions. They can send links to your videos to their own friends and family. They can post comments on your Blog posts, give a review of your services, and post a badge on their own site. These actions cost them nothing but a few minutes of time, and you can give them incentive for helping. Offer a coupon code, discount, or free shipping in return for giving online support. You could offer a raffle entry for everyone who enters a review on your Facebook page, with the winner getting a prize – then encourage people to join your free contest. If you do not have a Version 9 or if your site does not include some of the mentioned features, give us a call at (888) 806-2081 for information on getting these features. As always, if you have any questions please contact Technical Support via e-mail at techsupport@emerchantclub.com by going to Live Chat Technical Support at http://www.emerchantclub.com/support.html or by calling (877) 384-4691. Thank you, Your eMerchantClub Team
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Put the address to your storefront as the first thing in the description of the video, and in other locations appropriate for the address. This becomes a link viewers can click to visit your site, and is one of the main reasons to distribute and promote your video. When people like what they see, they can visit your site by clicking that link.
E-mail links to the videos to family and friends, and encourage them to:
Add your store’s logo or an interesting picture to the Profile picture section of your Facebook page. This makes it visually appealing for visitors.
After events are added, invite all every Facebook friend you have to the event. You can also invite people who are not already a fan of your page; you can even invite people who do not yet have a Facebook account. This is a good way to get new people involved in your business – enter their e-mail address (or import addresses from an existing account) and Facebook will invite them to your event. Don’t use this to spam people who would not be interested in your business, but for people who would legitimately be interested in attending the event.
Ask customers what kinds of products they would like to see