Have your search engine rankings taken a beating of late? Have you noticed a decrease or increase in your rank based on keywords, domain and target audience? You probably didn't realise that Google has updated its search algorithm with 50 major changes - Google Panda 3.4. 

Are you using key Social Media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus to promote your business?  Do your staff understand their responsibilities on how to use Social media for your business? Do you have a well defined Social Media Strategy in place which is already communicated to your staff? If the answer is NO then read on...

At this point, it is safe to say that social media has revolutionised online marketing in every industry. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+ and other social media channels have become a large part of the marketing campaigns of companies.  The Real Estate industry is no different.

Real Estate involves the selling and buying of land, property, apartments and other buildings. This makes real estate the perfect candidate for social media platforms. In an industry where buyers and realtors need to meet, social media is the bridge that can provide the means to the end. 

Over the past decade the internet has changed rapidly and drastically. Search Engines have evolved, website designing has changed and social media marketing together with the smartphones and tablets have revolutionised website design and development. 

Founded in 2005, over the period of 7 years YouTube has become the world’s second largest search engine – after Google.

You Tube is primarily a web based video streaming and sharing website where users can share, view, upload and comment on online videos.  

In September of 2011, the world's largest social media network unveiled Facebook Timeline; it was met with a flurry of excitement and criticism.  But after much pomp and fanfare, Facebook Timeline was rolled out to fans in beginning of 2012.

 Having started off my career as a social media marketing assistant a few months back, after many internal training sessions I have settled into my role and am now confidently using Twitter for business marketing. I now manage a multitude of clients from varying industries for the Australian market.

Prior to this career opportunity, although I was a regular user of Twitter and Facebook, I had in no shape or form used these social networks for business marketing. Today, however I can safely say that I am reasonably “qualified” to publish my own set of tips on how to successfully use Twitter for Business.

Started in March 2010 as a beta version, Pinterest is the latest social media network to take the world by storm. An invitation only social media network, that acts like a pin-up board, has already reached 11.7 million monthly active users.

It is also currently the internet’s fastest growing website of any kind and is gaining in popularity as a referral marketing platform. 

One hour Plumbing is a Sydney based plumbing service that specialises in hot water, blocked drains and other services such as sewer installation, rain water tanks, taps and toilet repairs together with bathroom and kitchen renovation.

The unique service guarantee of One Hour Plumbing is that they quote by the job and not by the hour.

When I first joined ICT Social Business, to say I was green behind the ears about Social Media, would be an understatement. I had used Facebook and Twitter for leisure but in no shape or form for business.

After many internal trainings session, I became confident in managing major client accounts. During my morning online research rituals, I always find interesting articles and tips on how social media and Facebook can be used for business. So I decided to share some tips which I feel have changed how I use Facebook for Business. 

Here are the ten tips in managing Facebook for Business: - 

Tip 1:  - Role Modelling:

Take a look at successful social media campaigns and top brands, understand why they a...

In the pre-social media age, role models were individuala who served as an example and were emulated by others. Role Models were sporting heroes, public icons, community leaders & business leaders.

However, post social media, role modeling took a whole different meaning. For any newbie getting started with social media, one of the key tips that has been widely quoted for social media success is – role modelling.

So what is social media role modeling?  There are so many tips and tricks for successful social media engagement and community building, but the most common of them all is watching and learning from companies and brands who have already created successful social media marketing campaigns. Whether you are a seasoned social media campaigner or...

The Social Media team at ICT Social Business spent the better part of 2012 concentrating on Social Search, Social Business and SoLoMo. But this week, we thought it would be a good idea to go back to our Social Media basics, more specifically LinkedIn. 

We all understand the importance of LinkedIn as a B2B social media marketing tool, and we understand that for a novice it can be quite overwhelming to get started on LinkedIn. 

Our Business Development Manager - Richard Holland, a relative social media and LinkedIn virgin, has created his own profile and listed a few tips which he thinks will help others like him to Get Started on LinkedIn. 

 We are only a few weeks into 2012 and the social media world has been revolutionised yet again. This time around it’s Google and its Social Network Google+.Google has launched Search plus your World. This feature has been in the works for a while now and released at the beginning of 2012. As expected it faced criticism on many points including privacy concerns, security, anti-trust, and also the war amongst the big 3 Social Media giants Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

There is much debate about how this is going to affect traffic from news sites, how this will affect users and personalised search.

 The year 2012 has been dubbed by experts as the year of social content and customer engagement. However for marketers the daunting task has always been how can they translate the time, effort and money spent on social media to get a Return on Investment (ROI).

But social media has always intrigued marketers due to the fact that it adds interactivity which did not exist in traditional marketing.  Using Social Media campaigns marketers can engage and directly communicate with the customers, a feat that was impossible with traditional marketing channels.

In an age when social media is the major online platform used by our current and future customers, what are the steps social marketers can follow in order to build a successful...

Are you a social media marketer for your business? Then you are probably handling multiple social media channels for your organisation. Apart from tweeting, posting you also need to look at measurements, ROI, and analytics. Wouldn’t it be so much easier if you could manage the content, the monitoring and management of all the social media channels in one platform? 

Here are the top ten social media marketing management platforms what will help you manage multiple social media accounts, measure ROI and engage prospects via content. 

Shoutlet - Social Media Marketing Management Platform

Using this platform you can manage your social networks, create promotions & contests, monitor interaction history, measure ROI and analy...

What a year it has been in 2011 for those of us embracing social networking for business. The competition among major social media business channel’s in 2011, has been unprecedented. Most of the impetus for this activity is due to the new player in the social media market, being Google+. Looking towards 2012, which major social media channel will dominate the social media market for business.

Will it be?

The just over 100 day old Google+, the search engine giant’s social media channel has just opened its doors to company and brand pages.  The social network already boasts of a 40 million member network and is the fastest growing social media channel.

The company has also launched a complimentary feature called Google Direct Connect, which makes is easy for users to find Google+ pages using Google search. Although currently limited to brand and company pages, the feature will expand in the near future to include all business pages.

With features such as hangout, circles, sparks and chat, Google+ has cert...

For the first time a major brand in Australia went through a serious union strike and industrial conflict where the whole world reacted through social media. Through this article, we hope to examine the Qantas back story, the damage to the brand and the social media reaction from both the public and Qantas itself.

It is not a question of whether businesses need to use social media but a question of how well we use it. But, businesses are overwhelmed, under pressure or confused and need to get experts to advise them on how to handle social media and the platforms. Businesses now know that they need to be getting social in order to drive traffic to their websites and generate Return on Investment (ROI). However, the challenge that businesses face is the lack of expertise in social media and the fact that it can sometimes be time consuming. 

In an era before social media, in the not too distant past, people used to watch television, not all our friends and half the world knew what we were upto and kids attended class and tried to pay attention.

If you are a business owner, be it a large multinational, a small business or a cottage industry chances are you have some kind of Facebook presence.  You may have noticed a flurry of activity and changes in your Facebook page and were left wondering what it’s all about. Well it’s not over yet! At the 2011 F8 conference in San Francisco, Mark Zuckerberg, introduced some significant changes that may well affect the way we do business – AGAIN!  Watch the video

So let’s take a brief look at these new changes and why you can’t ignore it.

The 800 pound gorilla in the room – The Facebook Timeline 
Everyone is talking about it. You&rsq...

As the title suggests, this article is a compilation of some of the most common tips and traps with social media for business. By implementing the tips and avoiding the traps, it will enable your business to leverage the positive aspects of social media.

For those of you who have not heard of Twitter - its nothing but a headline with keywords. How does this help business? This allows businesses to communicate with clients or potential clients in short attention grabbing headlines that can be linked to posts or offers in your website.

It is a micro blogging communication platform that has redefined the way the world communicates, shares information and advertises. Twitter is an online communication tool that allows you to post updates that are less than140 characters, that can be viewed by everyone or a restricted group, depending on your settings.

If you refer the dictionary for the meaning of the word Twitter, you would find – &ldq...

Written by One of the Social Media Costomers

Source : Jones Partners

Recently our Firm with Added Value Corporation Pty Limited co-hosted functions at our Sydney and Norwest Offices. Mr Logan Nathan of ICT Internet Presence provided an excellent presentation to assist businesses in utilising social media to benefit their business. The seminar was an intriguing overview of the growth of social media websites and how such websites have changed the way in which companies do business. For further information in relation to this matter, please contact Bruce Gleeson or Michael Jones.

Press Release by Daily FT  - "Reach the World through Social Media Tools"

Source : Daily FT

Recently our Firm with Added Value Corporation Pty Limited co-hosted functions at our Sydney and Norwest Offices. Mr Logan Nathan of ICT Internet Presence provided an excellent presentation to assist businesses in utilising social media to benefit their business. The seminar was an intriguing overview of the growth of social media websites and how such websites have changed the way in which companies do business. For further information in relation to this matter, please contact Bruce Gleeson or Michael Jones..

Press Release by Daily Mirror  - "Reach the World through Social Media Tools"

Source : Daily Mirror

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, together with iPhonik (Pvt) Ltd. and an Internet Presence Solution Provider – Logan Nathan, conducted  a presentation on social media secrets for business, “Reach the World through Social Media Tools” on March 28 at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC).

When LinkedIn opened its first office in Australia in January 2010, Steve Barham, the Director of Hiring Solutions predicted that most of Australia’s workforce would be covered by LinkedIn. By June the same year, 15,000 new people had signed up as members. On the flip side recruiters Rio Tinto, HP and Vodafone Hutchison were among the first to sign up for LinkedIn Recruiter a new product that was rolled out. The seriousness with which this social media business portal is targeting the recruitment industry is evident from Global CEO, Jeff Weiner‘s observation that the recruitment solutions division is LinkedIn’s biggest and fastest growing division.

A wake-up call to...

Written by Cassandra Mascarenhas

Source : Daily Financial Times

The phenomenon of Social Media has proved to be invaluable to businesses worldwide with its ability to allow direct contact with consumers and its wide outreach to a target market as a whole. Understanding the vital role that Social Media plays in the world today, Sri Lankan entrepreneur based in Australia Logan Nathan on a visit to Sri Lanka conducted an executive briefing aimed at senior management teams titled ‘Social Media for Businesses’ earlier this week.

As the world of online marketing continues to grow, and new ways of communicating with niche markets are sought out, Social Media has withstood the onslaught of critics and has proved to be a winner. That being said the challenge for business is to use Social Media in the most creative way in their own organisations so that they can reach their prospects and customers in a manner that builds strong and healthy long term relationships.

Mobile Technology & Social Media Marketing

The parallel rise of mobile technology has proven to be a boon for social media marketers. The soaring popularity of android and iphone based applications has seen social media take over from email in mobile communicatio...

If you are serious about running an online business and you do not have an existing Twitter or Facebook account yet, then you should consider creating these accounts right away find your way to making your own business pages in these two accounts.

Using Face book and Twitter to promote your company or perhaps sell your products is definitely one of the best ways by which you can intensify your product or company’s popularity among consumers. If you do not have one yet, here are some of the reasons why you should at this instant come up with your own Facebook and Twitter business ac...

If you are running an online business, make sure that you understand it is not enough to simply create your own business pages or build your own fan pages which may help promote your business; because in reality, there is also a great need for you to establish your Facebook and Twitter business pages linking to your website

Take note that if your website does not seem to be consistent with your newly created Facebook and Twitter accounts, then all your attempts to effectively network your business are soon doomed to fail. Here are some of the things you will need to consider from my perso...

The popular Linkedin’s primary objective is to strengthen and deepen your business footing in the industry you belong to, many businessmen have already started to use this Social Media site for networking and business purposes. It has actually already garnered over 85 millions of people from 200+ countries who have registered as the site’s official users.

In the past, the ultimate purpose of Linkedin is merely to let its users establish and maintain connections with the countless of other people who they deal with in their business. In fact, you can use the site as a place for finding jobs, or perhaps for coming across some business opportunities that could make you become richer in no time. Whatever may be y...

What started off as a new way to socialise online using just 140 characters has become irreplaceable in the lives of many people. The success of TWITTER as a Social Media Platform until recently had businesses thinking. Could this be used as a medium for sharing information and as an open source of communication with Prospects, Clients, Suppliers and other Interest Groups?

First it was the multinationals who hopped onto the Twitter bandwagon. The medium-to-small businesses waited to see if their larger counterparts could gain traction from the medium. They did not have to wait for long. As TWITTER continued to surge ahead in popularity, businesses large and small realised that ...

One of the biggest breakthroughs that Social Media has achieved is the “humanizing” of companies. It has brought executives down from their ivory towers to the shop floor, making them available to interact with customers irrespective of their geographic location.

Twitter, the micro blogging platform has spearheaded this trend, allowing prospects and clients to share their views about products and services in real time through short messages of140 characters.

Practicing the art of generosity

In most cases users follow many more Twitter members than there are following them. This is one of the reasons why it&rsq...

It’s redefined the way people communicate online, it’s revolutionised the internet and is pulling viewers away    from drab television programs. If you’re not yet using social media for business you may be wondering what it’s all about, any why it’s being talked about in business circles as the marketing tool for the new economy.

Let’s examine the “Social” aspect of Social Media. What does it really mean to be Social?

What does Social Media mean for business?

Social communities comprise people from different backgroun...

With businesses hopping on the bandwagon, it’s no more a question of, “whether” but “when” a business should get serious about implementing a Social Media Strategy. Interestingly businesses use different Social Media Platforms to meet their own marketing objectives. So, what exactly are businesses doing with this new-found marketing tool and how exactly are they using it to their advantage?

It’s no surprise that Australian businesses are quickly beginning to use Social Media for marketing their business. Why wouldn’t they?, when Australia ranks among the top in the world for internet usage with users spending around eight hours per month on an average on various Social Media Networks. W...

What Is Flickr?

Flickr is a web site that offers photo sharing and a host of related services for users of any level - beginners to professionals. More than just being a web site, Flickr is a community - one with a very strong and active user base and one of the fastest-growing photo sharing sites on the web. Clearly, Flickr provides an excellent opportunity for the smart, creative small business owner.

Flickr offers one of the largest image archives and communities online and one that is often not targeted because most small businesses aren't yet good at creating the one thing they need to have credibility in Flickr ... high quality non-marketing images.

While YouTube is used by a large number of individuals to post interesting & entertaining videos, astute marketers are using it to present the human face of their business and grow their sales.

Using YouTube for business is not about creating a profile and uploading a bunch of commercials. There’s a lot more to using as a social media marketing tool.

To reach out to your target audience and keep them coming back to view the videos again, you need to maximise your strategy:

What began as a Facebook for business professionals has gained ground as a Social Networking Mecca for business professionals. With over 50 million members, LinkedIn provides an opportunity to network with professionals that you never knew existed. This could lead to leads that can be converted to customers. Alternatively one could find joint venture partners or even advisors to help grow a business.

Familiar terms on LinkedIn

Connection: Just as the name suggests, this is a person you are connected to. You can view each other’s information.

Network: All your connections

Invite: This is how you “Invite” people to join your network

Recommendations:

If you are already popular on Facebook your task in influencing & persuading people to become your fan is a lot easier than if you were to start out afresh. The simplest and most common form of communication on Facebook is through messages. Messages can be one-on-one or one-to-many. The most common form of Facebook messages are:

 Personal Updates

When you write a message on your profile it appears on all of your Facebook friends’ Facebook | Friends pages. If you write on somebody’s wall it appears on all of their friend’s home pages.

Group Messages

If you started a gr...

Business owners often ask the question, can Social Media Marketing be used to improve search results for a business? The answer is yes. There are many ways that Social Media and Search Engine Marketing can be integrated to give a business greater visibility both for paid search and organic search.

Integration with Paid Search

Considering paid search, it is always important to examine the marketing efforts a business is involved in anyway across the different channels in the company. For instance say a video is being uploaded to a Company’s Website, YouTube or another search engine. In this case paid ads can be used to direct users to...

Twitter is a micro-blogging social media platform that allows users to communicate using short messages with 140 characters in real time. Users can follow each other and keep up to date on what their followers and other businesses are posting.

Twitter is also an excellent tool for obtaining feedback and helps businesses keep an ear on the ground, so they are aware of what is being said about them. The First step is to visit the Twitter website http://twitter.com and click the Join the conversation! Green Box to create a username and password. While you may choose to create a personal Twitter account, it is advisable to create a separate Twitter account for your Company, and establish a corporate brand on Twitter.

Hot tip:

Give some thought to how...

Businesses who start out with Social Media Campaigns often complain that their efforts do not show results. It is true that Social Media Marketing may not always produce instant results that are expected by a generation of business owners who have grown up in the “instant gratification” culture of the modern society. On the other hand there are certain obstacles that entrepreneurs and business owners need to be able to overcome for their Social Media Campaigns to be effective.

Understanding the media and the participants needs

It is easy for business owners to get attracted to Social Media just like a child being drawn to a shi...

Before you begin setting up a blog on your business website, the question you need to ask yourself is what will get visitors to return to your website frequently to view your new posts.

Certain blog building elements are crucial to the success of building a business blog. All these elements should be in place for a blog to be effective. The basic elements are like building blocks and while they are not difficult to build, they are extremely important.

How you do business

One of the first questions you need to ask yourself is whether the manner in which you conduct business is suitable for blogging. Ask yourself if you are comfortable with sharing c...

Are you in an atmosphere to drive traffic to your website and increasing conversions? Enter Social media without slaying your assets... This can drive an insane amount of traffic to your website. This phenomenon of Social Media Marketing has even overtaken SEO on many fronts such as its popularity. There are numerous ways to do it and several Social Networks to do this with. Naturally one size does not at all and each Social Network needs to be worked differently for the desired results.

Think of social media channels as funnels, with a narrow stem. The purpose of a funnel is simple: to enable liquid or substances to flow into containers with a small opening. They facilitate access and movement.