While currently only available to a limited number of people for trial purposes, the Google+ experience is showing a lot of potential to take on Facebook, with a lot of features that Facebook users have been asking for a long time.

A more modern approach to social media, such as real-time video hangouts, and a much simpler, easy to use and way less clunky design, Google Plus allows users to navigate around the new network much easier than Facebook.

But will it be enough to attract the followers that Facebook currently has?

Only time will tell.

The advantage for Google though is it integrates well with all the current Google Apps and keeps the same feel throughout all their applications, which overall means it has a lot more functionality than Facebook as an entire business and social tool, rather than just a social network.

Learn more about Google +
https://plus.google.com/

The new Lujure Facebook Business page creator lets you easily build your own professional pages and upload them with all the tools to create the ulimate Facebook page

 
All it takes is just a little knowledge of what is possible to do in Facebook and away you go. For instance did you know you can offer exclusive one-time offers by setting up an initial entry page, and if someone ‘likes’ your page they will be taken to an alternative welcome page with your special offer. Or did you know you can add video, shopping carts, blog feeds, like twitter feeds, Flash animated photo galleries, Mailing list forms, Google maps and even Paypal payment buttons directly into your Business page, allowing people to purchase directly from within your Facebook page!

Facebook also provides you with great demographics enabling you to learn more about your visitors and followers, including their age, location, and main keywords that attracted them to you, helping you plan future online marketing campaigns to your targeted audience.

Here is a quick snapshot of Facebook demographics.

So if you aren’t using Facebook for creating a unique customer base and business community you are most likely missing out on a lot of business opportunites. Check out Lujure and try the totally free demo and create your own Facebook business page – Click here to visit their website

When it comes to promoting your business online, Facebook is a much more cost effective way to advertise online compared to Google Adwords and other paid advertising methods.

One of the great things about Facebook advertising is the flexibility to customise your ads and your target audience for a very cost effective success rate.

You can customise your Facebook advertisements so that they will only appear to specific groups or market segments, based upon gender, location or people’s likes and personal preferences, which equates to a much more successful success rate.

For instance, if you are marketing your product towards teen girls, you can develop your create your advertisements so that they only appear to girls that watch America’s Next Top Model, and follow certain bands or fashions, which might relate to your product range. So your audience is the exact target audience you want.

By setting up your ad preferences to only be seen by girls that follow particular groups, as well as their personal preferences that match the same type, means not only do you get the exact market you want but you also keep your costs down.

I recommend that you do some market research first to accurately define your target market, and then develop your advertisements to suit your target audience.

Staying within Facebook Guidelines

Facebook is very particular about the advertising they allow, and have a good quality control system in place to ensure all advertisements stay within their guidelines. IT’s advised that you review their guidelines first to avoid wasting time and money and get the most out of your ad campaigns.

Where Facebook differs from Google Adwords is that your success is not related to what people search for, but more the target audience, so your ads are automatically triggered to appear for the audience and settings selected rather than is someone searches for something.

Users can also choose to rate advertisements, which helps retain the ad quality throughout the Facebook community.

Setting Your Maximum Daily Bid

When you are advertising on Facebook, one of the most important aspects to setting up a successful Facebook ad campaign is setting the maximum daily bid.

The higher you bid, the more exposure your ads will receive.

When you are just starting up your ad campaigns it is a wise move just to start your bids low, and then increase your maximum daily bid as you start to fine-tune your ads for better results. I recommend doing 3 ads for the same product, using different text and see what works best, and then increase your daily bids on the one that is more successful click thru ratio of the three.

When you create your ads, Facebook will suggest a maximum bid which is based upon your target audience and your advertising focus.

This information is based upon your preference you set.

I suggest go lower than what Facebook suggests and see how it goes, then increase it slightly daily and monitor your success ratio until you get it perfect.

If you want to achieve a more targeted result for a lesser bid amount I recommend carefully choosing your target audience and narrow it down to the exact location, gender, interests, etc and you will dramatically reduce how much you pay, and also increase your click through and sales ratio.

Improve your Click Through Rate

Obviously, your click through rate is a very important part of a cost-effective marketing campaign, so it’s important to keep track of your click through rate and make necessary adjustments or fix any problems your campaign might be having to improve your overall CTR (Click Through Ratio)

If your ads’ CTR drops too low it can possibly be automatically removed by Facebook, so keep an eye on how it converts and either change the bid or change the content, or even adjust your target audience setup.

Typically, your advertisements should stay about a 2% conversion rate.

One of the best ways to do this is with an ad that really stands out and prompts people to want to click.

On the graphic of your ad, add a button that makes people want to click it, or offer something that entices people to want to see where the click will take them. But always target it to your audience or you will receive un-necessary clicks.

Also pay attention to the times of the day that your ad runs. You can set your ad to just run between particular hours of the day, so you may only want it to run from 5pm to 10.30pm or just on weekends etc, when your particular audience is more likely to be online.

Facebook Cost-Per-Click vs Impressions

Facebook gives you the option to create your ad campaigns based upon either the CPC or number of impressions you receive.

If you are just starting up I recommend the CPC option as you only pay if someone clicks on your advertisement, rather than paying for every view. As you fine-tune your target audience you might decide to change to impressions.

At any stage, you can easily click a button and change over the advertising format to impression based. If it gets too expensive for your success ratio you can easily change it back.

For more information on successful Facebook marketing, we recommend the following guides to increase your revenue and save you money advertising on Facebook:

Facebook Ad Expert
Facebook Ad Expert is a comprehensive and detailed instructional E- book on how to become a social media ad expert specific to the Facebook advertising platform, Learn all the insider secrets to profit hugely from the Facebook advertising platform.
CLICK FOR DETAILS

Facebook Ads Guide by Jonathan Volk
Complete A to Z guide of how I generated over $1,000,000 in revenue using Facebook Ads in just 10 months time! Hot product put out by well known Super Affiliate (trusted) Jonathan Volk of JonathanVolk.com
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Author: Chris Bourke of WebSEOCoach.com and Devision Design
Chris is a web designer and seo expert from Australia, who also specializes in social media marketing for business

By planning and integrating smart online marketing campaigns using social media such as Facebook and Twitter can increase your profit by 400% or more within 24 hours!

The only other ways to achieve this result online would be pay-per-click marketing such as Google Adwords or Facebook ads, yet professional social media marketing costs a fraction of what you would spend on other online services.

The big advantage of marketing using social media is that you promote your products more effectively by branding and utilising your social media pages more effectively.

Did you know nearly 80% off Facebook business accounts don’t use their Facebook business page to attract or promote their services?
Most don’t even realise that you can brand your Facebook business page up, add contact forms, run videos or even set up booking forms, blogs and shopping carts directly inside of Facebook!

Here is a quick example of what your Facebook business page could look like:

By branding up your Facebook page you not only strengthen your branding by becoming more recognisable but you also make it easier to create an online following as you look professional.

The same can be done with Twitter, Youtube and so on.

Here is an example of a Twitter custom branded page:

So now that you can see what can easily be done using these free powerful online social media marketing tool, if you aren’t generating customers and sales using social media you are probably missing out on a lot of business!

Author: Chris Bourke of Devision Design and Web SEO Coach
Chris is a web designer and social media marketer in Australai, helping business’s with online branding for success.
for more on how you can make money online check out Chris’s guide: http://www.ultimatecashblog.com

But to make social media really work for you you need to be ‘social’.

By interacting with your followers you not only establish a trusting relationship, but also have the chance to upsell on your services.

But how do you know if you are interactive enough, posting something they are interested in, or just frustrating them with too many posts?

HootSuite have come up with the solution!

HootSuite Social Analytics from HootSuite on Vimeo.

HootSuite‘s new Social Analytics allow you to customize and automate your messages easily, plus provide awesome statistics in real time to show you exactly how much impact you are having in the online social world.

Link up multiple accounts including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare and not only track your influence on the web but learn more about your audience to improve your social media impact.

HootSuite also tracks keywords, finds your perfect target audience and more.

Whether you are a social media expert, or have no clue about it, HootSuite is your perfect companion to online success in social media!

CHECK OUT HOOTSUITE ONLINE – CLICK HERE

Do you use the internet on a regular basis? If you do, there is a good chance that you have heard of websites like Facebook, MySpace, FriendFinder, or Foursquare. What do all of these websites have in common? They are known as social networking websites. Social networking websites, over the past few years, have rapidly increased in popularity, so much that many are wondering why.

If you have used a social networking website before, it is likely that you are already fully aware of their popularity and the reason for popularity. There is just something about these websites that draw in millions of internet users. With a wide variety of different social networking websites available, there are a wide variety of different reasons for their popularity. One those reasons being the ease of use.

Social networking websites are, for the most part, easy to use. Most sites are easy to navigate. In fact, many require little knowledge of the internet. In addition to being easy to navigate, social networking websites also make it easier to meet new people online. There are many internet users who would love to make new friends online; however, that can sometimes be difficult do. Without social networking websites, you would have to connect with internet users, often in chat rooms, and learn about their interests before deciding if you would like to consider them your ‘buddy’. Social networking sites allow you to learn information about another internet user before ever having to make contact with them.

Another one of the many reasons why social networking sites are popular is because many are free to use. In fact, the majority of social networking sites, such as MySpace and Yahoo! 360, are free to use. Despite being free to use, many websites require that you register with them. This registration will not only allow you to create your own profile or online webpage, but it will also allow you to contact other networking members.

Although most social networking websites are free to use, there are some that are not. Classmates is one of those websites. Many of these websites give you a free trial period or a free membership. That membership can be used to help you determine whether or not the website is worth paying for. What is nice about paid online social networking websites is that many can be considered exclusive. Since most internet users would not want to pay for something that they can get for free, most paid social networking sites are limited on the number of members they have. This may work out to your advantage because it tends to eliminate those who create fake accounts or aim to cause controversy online.

Social networking websites are also popular because they come in a wide variety of different formats. Websites like Facebook and MySpace focus on a wide variety of different topics. This means that just about anyone can join. However, there are other social networking sites out there that have a particular focus. These focuses may be on a particular religion, political following, or hobby. Most specialty social networking sites restrict the individuals that can participate in their network; thus, making your experience more enjoyable.

Finally, social networking websites focus on meeting new people, especially online, but over recent months, many have started including additional features only available to their online members. Many social networking members can receive their own free webpage, get free access to popular music videos, a free blog, and much more. Although social networking websites are popular enough to bring in members on their own, these additional features are, in a way, providing internet users with an incentive to join.

Mentioned above were a few of the most popular social networks that could be found online. Those networks included Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo! 360, and Classmates. If you are looking for additional social networking websites, you should easily be able to find some by performing a standard internet search.

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www.WebSEOCoach.com – Online business marketing and search engine optimization tips