Social Media in Tampa relies upon the new, the fresh and the relevant to capture attention. If you’ve tried Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Tumblr, now is the time to look into Pinterest.  This “new kid” in the social media world is a fresh and FREE way to promote your business!

Pinterest is a new Tampa social media outlet that is highly visual, allowing you to post thematic images and visual messages. The more visual the better. Think of it as the colorful magazine rack in the bookstore or checkout line.  How easy is that in a picture-perfect area like ours!

The beauty of Pinterest in Tampa Social media is that like minds come together in a visual way. You can search by themes, boards and even people. That means your business can be searched – and found — in many different ways.

Like the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Any image you post can be linked back to your site – and lead potential customers to you!  If someone likes your pin, they can repin it on their boards – and it gets repined from there in an exponential tell-a-friend way. It all links back to you. GENIUS!

Social media in Tampa relies on authenticity and perseverance to be successful. Here are 5 ways to improve your click-throughs and promote a new product using Pinterest:

1. Evaluate whether your product would be Pinterest worthy or could be made more visual. Clever sayings, vintage ads, related pictures – anything that could be taped to the fridge or posted on Facebook works –if your product or service itself isn’t picture-pretty.
2. Be willing to put in the time to work on your board. Try to pin something every day.  Like most entrepreneurs, of course, you simply may not have the time to do this. Consider hiring a pro to manage your Pinterest board for you!
3. Pinterest is based on mutual interest. It is a natural springboard to other platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, to continue or deepen a connection you make. This can be a potential customer, an advantageous business connection or people who simply like finding something new and cool, and talking about it on social media.
4. For social media in Tampa, think of Pinterest as a visual Twitter, in which those you follow will follow you. Think reciprocity. If you repin items from top quality pinners, there is a great chance they will pin you back — giving you a boost in name value and credibility.
5. When you create a Pinterest account, promote it on your other social media platforms. Add a Pinterest button to your website. People may click on it out of curiosity and become hooked – a FREE way to spread the word.

One final caution: People do get turned off with highly sales oriented product pictures and transparent hype. Google, as now we know, penalizes pure pitch in organic searches. Subtle is the key. Not sure how to strike the right balance? Hire an expert – Personalized Marketing!

We have expertise in this new way of reaching millions of customers. We know how to meet all your social media needs. We get to know you and your business, then create a customized program that WILL generate you leads in the important social media realm.

Want to learn more about outsourcing social media in Tampa? Call Personalized Marketing today at 727-505-5384.

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Social media in Tampa is competitive, fast-paced and demanding. And it is a critical part of a business’ success. The question is, should you outsource it or control it yourself? There are many benefits to outsourcing social media in Tampa to a trusted professional.

Outsource Social Media Tampa

Here are the top 5:

1. Save time. Many business owners create an online presence but then find that they have no time to MAINTAIN it – it is very time intensive! If you want to grow your company into a successful enterprise, you need to work at many aspects. Why not focus on those parts which you know best – the ones that will give you the best return on your time investment? Face time with prospective customers, networking, and customer relations are aspects you can’t really outsource. There is no substitute for you. Work it and leave your Internet presence to the pros.

2. A specialist gets the results you want. Would you hire a plumber to fix your cash register? Exactly! Unless you really know the intricacies of social media, why risk doing it yourself or hiring your Uncle Harry the English teacher? Social media in Tampa is not as simple as posting on Facebook once a week or tweeting your latest special. There is both art and science to using it to boost business.

3. Save money. Sure you have to pay someone, but everyone knows time is money. Your time is worth money, and the more successful you are, the more your time will be worth. Outsourcing your social media in Tampa frees you up to run your business and do the tasks that no one else can do.

4. Save aggravation. Google algorhythms change constantly. Do you know how to create meaningful links? Do you know exactly how search engine traffic works? Do you know how social media can cause your Google rankings to rise – or sink? Most business owners don’t. What works this month may not work the next. Don’t take chances. Hire a professional!

5. You stay in control. I know this one sounds counterintuitive, but trust me, it works. You control your output, your content and – most important – your time. It boils down to good training. If you teach your contract workers well, they will know your company’s voice, your purpose, and your posting schedule. Create a template and a Hootsuite schedule, and present clear expectations. A good contract writer will follow through.

The linchpin to success in outsourcing social media in Tampa is finding someone you can trust. We are the social media experts and WE GET RESULTS! We can build and brand your sites such as Facebook profiles and timelines, Facebook business and welcome pages, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, Pinterest and Google Plus. Don’t trust a precious asset like social media to an amateur, and don’t take it on yourself. Run your business and let us do the rest! Contact us today for a FREE consultation!

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Getting started with the creation of a Facebook friends list is as simple as looking for people with similar likes and interests to your own. However, before you start building your Facebook friends list, you will first want to ensure that you created a personal profile or timeline of how you want to appear to your Facebook friends. You may want to project a professional personality on your profile. Or perhaps you simply prefer to be seen as a positive and friendly person. The choice is entirely yours, as long as you ensure that you show people on your profile or timeline how they would benefit from being friends with you. You might want to post a few images of yourself and write about your interests or what you have been up to recently. You will find that people will be able to quickly identify with you and want to know a little bit more. Be prepared to be consistent, responsive and proactive when you start to gain Facebook friends by commenting on their latest pictures and posts.

Find FaceBook Friends

Time now to find Facebook friends by starting to look for groups that are centered around a particular hobby that you enjoy. Or groups of people who have the same care or concerns that you have over a particular subject. You will also discover many pages that share the same excitement or enthusiasm as yourself for a pastime or pursuit. There will be no shortage of groups and people who share something in common with you. Leave a few posts on groups and pages walls. Make your comments interesting, but do not be tempted to self advertise. There will be people who are naturally curious after reading your comment and will check out your profile or timeline and, perhaps, add you as their Facebook friend.

Connecting To Build Your Facebook Friends List

Join as many groups as you can that share something in common with you. If you do not have a lot of interests, you can still find Facebook friends based upon geographical location, or gender. Be prepared to look through people profiles, and then add them as friends. You will soon discover that some will reciprocate and add you as a friend. Of course, if you would like to spend a little more time with the process, you can gain a lot more Facebook friends by leaving a personal message after adding them as a friend. This is as simple as saying ‘Hi,’  addressing them by their name and mentioning that you noticed they share a common interest with you [which you will have seen by reading their profile or timeline]. State that you enjoy connecting with people of similar interests and that you would like to be their Facebook friend. A personal note like this can really set you apart from the crowd. Don’t forget, of course, to send them a quick note and thank them when they accept your friendship! Creating a Facebook friends list can be fun and easy to do. Take your time to do it right and you will connect with a lot of great new friends.

If you are a business owner  interested in personalized marketing  -  outsourcing your company’s social media – we are here to help!  We not only build and brand your social media sites; i.e.  Facebook profiles and timelines, Facebook business and welcome pages, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs and Google Plus – we also MAINTAIN these sites so you can do what you do best…run your business and let us do the rest!  Contact us today for a FREE consultation!

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Fersons, Floggers and Sybils are new threats to your online reputation. What are they, you ask?

Fersons and floggers – short for fake persons and fake bloggers- are populating the Internet like never before. Spammers, competitors and online identity management firms are in opposing corners, trying to leap frog over each other to the top of Google searches. The target is your online reputation.

Fersons and Floggers are really people (but usually companies) that create dozens or hundreds of fake identities in the form of e-mail addresses, bogs and Web sites. Their sole purpose is to manipulate Google searches for a particular company.

How? They will buy many domain names and begin blogging against an established business. They will invent scores of email addresses and leave great or nasty comments on public forums and blogs.

Also known as the Sybil attack, (named after a woman with multiple personality disorder), an online attacker creates a large number of pseudonymous entities, and uses them to gain a disproportionately large influence on a business’s reputation.

Always, they are anonymous and hard to trace. One Washington lobbyist, the victim of scathing and untrue personal attacks, told the Washington Post, “There’s no policing, no rules, no standards.” Bloggers are “cowboys,” she said. “It’s the wild, wild West.” (read the full story)

Of course, fersons have existed as long as the Internet has been around. One poll conducted in 2007 said an astonishing 55% of respondents say they regularly or always use fake Web identities. But the newest incarnation is systematic, organized and professional. It is intended to hurt legitimate businesses.

Why does this matter? If a company website has a negative search result directly below it then up to 70% of surfers will click on the negative result first rather than the company website. It is important for a company to ensure that its website gets close to the top of search results for terms relevant to its business.

How to counter negative attacks? You guessed it: With MORE fersons! Search Engine Reputation Management firms, or SERMS, use these same tactics to minimize and counter damage inflicted by inflammatory web sites and blogs.

The downside is that SERM services start at about $10,000. For the small business, this is just not feasible.

The best course of defense is to employ the old customer directive: ”If you are happy with our service, tell everyone. If you are unhappy, tell us!” Tout your accomplishments and testimonials on Facebook and Twitter. You can get professional advice and excellent, POSITIVE small business marketing promotion through the social media marketing experts at Personalized Marketing. Contact us today to chat about positioning your small business on the Internet!

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Did you know anyone can rank high in Google searches. How? Pair your marketing with keywords attached to current events.

Small business marketing and social media marketing can get a huge boost just by pairing their products or services with a famous event, happening or person.

Do you search for current events on the Internet to learn more beyond the headlines? So does everyone else. By linking your product or service current events in your keywords, you as an online marketing entity can catapult upward in Google rankings.

Not convinced? Consider this: A small team of motorcycle racers in Colorado did a fantastic job of leveraging the marketing powerhouse of Apple Computers by using its new iPhone 4 to shoot a mini documentary: iPhone 4 Short Film – “156 Turns” – Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with Ducati Multistrada.

The phone had been out for less than a week, so people were buzzing about it: searching it online, using social media to rave about it and using Twitter to spread the word. The races just piggybacked on Apple to rank high.

And remember that kitschy Will It Blend guy who puts all kinds of crazy things in his powerful blender – including electronic devices – and shows it YouTube to prove how powerful it is? What a genius! Why this is so brilliant marketing-wise is that he is showing how good his product is AND getting more and more viewers with every product launch. He just puts the latest, greatest gadget in his blender including iPhones, iPads, Olympus cameras, and even Facebook. He uses those keywords with “blender” to, well, BLEND his product with a hot topic. HE gets the ranking everyone else is chasing.

So how can a small business marketing person do this? Social media blogging! A flip video camera costs less than $150. Creativity costs nothing. Someone who sells equestrian supplies can pair the term “horse supplies” with “Kentucky Derby Winner” or “Belmont Stakes Traditions.”

People who sell makeup can blend their product with the keywords Grammys, Oscars, Miss America, etc. For those who sell toys, Santa, Christmas, Child Star Birthdays are no-brainer links.

Think of it as another way of name dropping!

Small business marketing and social media marketing can get a big boost and rank high in Google searches by linking up with current events.

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When starting a new business, we all know that we need a good venue to display our products and services. Social media offers a host of sites, and one of the household words these days is Facebook.  Facebook reaches over half a billion people and it is FREE….let me repeat…FREE to create your personal Facebook profile and business page! If  your business is already up and running or you are considering starting your own business, marketing on Facebook can be a great deal of help.

Here are some Facebook marketing tips and tricks:

• As already stated, Facebook reaches a lot of potential customers! If you have already created a Facebook profile, it’s now time to create your business page.  You can start populating your business page by inviting your friends to ‘like’ your page. It’s like having a built-in client base right at your finger tips. Ask them if it is okay to test marketing skills on them. Let them know that their feedback is welcome and important. Remember to keep your business page updated with the latest and greatest information regarding business products and services.

• Try to understand and know your target demographics. Think about and then decide which kinds of people to attract.  You can use as wide or narrow a range as they like. Once the target demographic is determined, start looking for similarities on friends’ sites.

• Your friends’ opinions matter! Inquire what it is they are interested in and how to go about reaching more people that have the same interests. Try not to make friends feel as if they are just business contacts. Friends can be a powerful resource, but it is important to let friends know that they are more than business contacts.

• You can also consider using paid advertising on Facebook. It is a low cost way to generate leads and a  HUGE potential for growing a larger customer base!

If you’re new to online marketing and social media and just don’t know which direction to turn, consider outsourcing this very important piece of your business marketing.  Contact us today for a FREE no obligation quote!

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If you’re an entrepreneur  and have a small to medium size business, it is important that you make the most of your advertising and marketing dollars.  Getting the most for your dollar is as true for the small business owner as for the big business owner. Social media marketing is literally FREE and a resource worth its weight in gold!

Social Media Marketing Tips For Small Business

Here are some quick tips for small business owners.

Facebook has several great opportunities for FREE and also at low cost.  If you have not  yet created a personal profile on Facebook, I would highly encourage you to get on the social media bandwagon and start today. You can create a business account on Facebook without creating a personal profile, but the advantage of having a personal profile connected to your business page on Facebook is VERY powerful.  Friends from your Facebook’s personal profile are your bucket of  ‘prospects’ for your business.  Best of all…this is all FREE !!!!   After you’ve created your personal profile and created your business  page, take a peek at your competitor’s Facebook business pages and get an idea of how they are  showcasing their products to Facebook users.

Twitter is growing rapidly.  Again, Twitter is FREE.  All you have to do is create an account and start tweeting.  Keep in mind that keywords play a HUGE role on Twitter.  If you get lost in the Twittersphere, they have put together a guide that will help make the best use of their site.

LinkedIn is another useful social media tool to add to your social media marketing toolbox. LinkedIn is a great resource for B2B engagement.

YouTube is right up there with all the social media sites!  Do NOT leave this trusted social tool out of your online marketing toolbox.  Humans love videos that are not infomercials!  Humans like watching ‘real’ humans talk about ‘real’ things in less than one minute!  Why spend thousands of dollars on a videographer when you can literally reach thousands if not millions of prospects by harnessing the KISS methodology – Keep It Simple Stupid!

Blogs are a super complement to your already existing website.  If you don’t have an existing website, I would highly suggest building a hosted blog site.   WordPress blogs can aesthetically resemble a website AND they have the power of NOS on the internet. Google loves keywords. Feed your blog with rich keyword articles to assist in enhanced ranking on the internet.  And…drum roll…blogs have RSS feeds, giving your blog the ability to go viral all over the internet! I also suggest that you read and participate in other businesses blogs. Roll up your sleeves and start sharing some stories  and helpful hints of what has and has not worked well for you.

You may want to also consider utilizing mobile social networks.  Take a peek at Foursquare and Gowalla.  Setting up Google Alerts to watch for comments and conversations, and overall general mentions of your company!  Great way to be ‘alerted’ when  your company is being talked about.  Adwords are also a great  tool.  And always remember to review your web analytics!!!  Without reviewing your analytics, you don’t know how to steer your business!

The beauty of social media marketing is that you can reach local, regional, national and international markets for FREE.

What we hear almost on a daily basis is:

• I know I need an online presence
• I don’t know where to start
• I really don’t want to manage all these sites
• I just don’t have the time to build and manage all these sites

Your first step is to contact Personalized Marketing to build and outsource your small business social media.  We know how to get build your social media online presence and get ‘er done; and we take it a step further.  We’ll even manage all your sites so you can do what you do best, and that’s run your company!

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Did you ever see a sign that said ‘wet paint,’ and you just HAD to touch it?   How about that ‘link’ that stands out like ‘wet paint’ from one of your friend’s email messages and you ‘just have to CLICK it.’ 

 Here are a few tips to curb the ‘click the link addiction’ and to assist you along the bumpy online highway:

First, forget about being the trusting soul who believes everything that comes through your email is genuine, pure and wholesome.

 NEWS FLASH 

News Flash!

Our emails may appear to be from the most trusted of sources, but they are not always ‘all that they are cracked up to be’ and we become victims of ‘hacked’ up to be!  Hackers are clever.  Disguising emails to look as though they are coming from friends, when in reality, they aren’t!  If you even have the slightest suspicion, trust your ‘gut,’ and contact your friend by another means to verify the authenticity of the message sent.  This information holds true, even for social networks!

Seems most of us either individually, through business or a combination thereof have discovered that social media has become our online appendage, of sorts.  And as the popularity grows, we’re becoming prime bait for virus writers, hackers, spammers and beyond!  A word of CAUTION – do NOT, under any circumstances, allow the social site to grab hold of your email contacts. There are times, after joining a new social site that you might receive a notification to enter your email address information and also your PASSWORD to find out if your precious contacts are on the ‘network.’  Hmmmm…just think of this maneuver as an open invite to grasp all of your contacts and send unwanted email messages to everyone in your address book! 

 Do a favor to all your ‘friends’ and keep their information private, as well as yours!

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