Sprout Social: A Team-Friendly Approach to Social Media & Analytics

 

social_media

 

Sprout Social is a social media integration service that integrates with Twitter, Facebook pages, Gowalla, FourSquare and LinkedIn. They have a 100% free trial, where you don’t even need to give them your credit card number to subscribe.

They have two plans that are catered to small business owners: The “Standard” package, which comes in at $39 a month, or the “Deluxe” package, which comes in at $59 a month.

Here are some of the things that Sprout Social has to offer:

  • Message scheduling. Instead of having to post your updates live, you can schedule them to be posted at a later time.
  • Google analytics integration. See your traffic stats all in one place, instead of having to log into Google separately.
  • Custom branded reports. If you need to send a client a report, it’ll have your logo on it rather than Sprout Social’s.
  • Social media integration. Integrate many different social media accounts all in one place.
  • Live support. Have a question? Sprout Social is there to answer your questions.
  • Tools for collaboration. Work with your team to get the most out of your social media campaigns.

Here’s how to use Sprout Social to integrate your social media.

Step 1: Begin Your Trial

Click “Start Your 30 Day Trial” to begin the signup process.

1-Start-30-Day-Trial

Step 2: Select Your Plan

Select the plan you want to use. If you’re a small company, usually the “Standard” version is enough. You can always upgrade later.

2-Select-Plan

Step 3: Create Your Profile

Create your account. Sprout Social will tell you when your trial account is good till on the right hand side.

3-Create-Profile

Step 4: Sign In on Your Twitter Account

Click the “Sign in with Twitter” button to connect your Sprout Social account with your Twitter account.

4-Sign-in-Twitter

Authorize Sprout Social to use your Twitter account.

5-Sign-In-App

Step 5: Business Details

Enter your business details.

6-Business-Type-and-Name

Once you’re done, click “Continue” and you’ll be taken to your main dashboard screen.

Step 6: Adding More Profiles

If you want to add more profiles, click on the “Add Social Profiles” button in the next pop up screen or simply go to the right hand sidebar and click “+.”

 

6.1-Dashboard

7-Add-Profiles

Sprout Social will pop up a box allowing you to choose which social media profile you want to link up.

8-Choose-Which

Step 7: Add Team Members

To add more people to manage your account, click “Invite The Team” on the right hand side.

9-Invite-Team-Members

Enter the name and email address of the person you want to add. You’ll need to pay extra to add team members. You can add each person as either a standard user or as an administrator.

10-Add-Team-Members

Step 8: The Dashboard

When you first log into Sprout Social, you’ll be presented with your dashboard. Here you can view your new Twitter followers, new Facebook fans, Interactions and so on.

11-Dashboard

Step 9: Messages

To access your messages, click the “Messages” tab in the top navigation bar.

12-Messages

Your messages will be displayed in the center. If access messages from different accounts, click the account on the right hand side. To compose a new message, click “Compose” in the upper right corner.

Step 10: Feeds

To access your feeds, click the “Feeds” button at the top. By default, you’ll see your Twitter’s feed. You can also add a LinkedIn feed or an RSS feed.

13-Feeds

Step 11: Scheduling

To schedule a message, click “Schedule a new message” in the “Publishing” tab.

14-Schedule-a-New-Message

The scheduler will pop up. Here you can attach images, write your message and pick a time for your message to be posted.

15-Scheduler

Step 12: Discovery

Want to discover new people to follow or get in contact with? Click the “Discovery” button along the top navigation bar.

Sprout Social will then give you a list of people that they recommend you connect with. Take a look at their profile and if it makes sense, follow them or send them an @mention.

16-Discovery

Step 13: Reports

Want to get more details about how your social media campaigns are working? Click “reports.” You’ll be able to view data on both your Twitter accounts and your Facebook Pages accounts.

17-Reports

You can view data on your retweets, incoming messages, new followers and even compare the performance of multiple Twitter accounts.
That’s how to use Sprout Social to manage your social media. Sprout social makes it easy to manage feeds, messages, scheduling and various social media networks from one easy to use interface. They also make it very easy to involve the rest of your team in your social media plans.

Postling for Monitoring, Analytics and Easy Updates

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Postling is a social media integration service that ties in reputation monitoring, blog updating, analytics and traditional social media networks all in one easy to use package.

Through Postling, you can update your status or see who’s talking about you. You can track how many posts you’ve made in a certain time period and how many comments those posts have gotten. You can post to all your social networks in one easy to use interface.

Postling was co-founded by Chris Maguire, the co-founder of the popular art marketplace Etsy. It’s raised $700,000 in venture funding, according to TechCrunch.

Unlike other social media integration services, Postling is a paid service. The monthly rate is astoundingly low: $5. If you only want to use social media integration, then Postling might not be worth it. However, if you want to tie in reputation management, analytics and blog posting all in one easy to use interface, then Postling could be the perfect solution.

Here’s how to use Postling to integrate all these different areas of your internet business.

Step 1: Begin Registration

Start by entering your email, name and password

1-Begin-Registration

Step 2: Setup Payment

Setup the credit card you’ll use to get your $1 trial. You’ll be billed $5 a month automatically if you don’t cancel.

2-Credit-Card

Step 3: Choose How You’ll Use Postling

Choose how you plan on using Postling. Specifying the type of business you own will help Postling locate reviews for your business on sites like Yelp or Citysearch.

3-Choose-Use

If you select “business,” you’ll be asked for your business’ name and your business type.

4-Drop-Down

Step 4: Add Your Social Networks

Select which kind of social media account you want to add.

5-Add-Facebook

Then choose to grant access to Postling when the social media permission box pops up.

6-Allow

Repeat this for each social media account that you’d like to add.

Step 5: Add a Blog

Adding a blog to Postling will allow you to post to your blog from Postling and monitor your results from Postling’s analytics systems.

To add a blog, click the blogging platform you use.

7-Add-Blog-Accounts

Then give Postling the login credentials needed to log in and post to your blog.

8-Blog-URL

Step 6: Setup Tracking

Setup your tracking here. Postling will automatically monitor social media and search engines for mentions of you and your brand. They’ll also monitor Yelp and Citysearch to help you find new reviews about your business.

9-Tracking-Setup

Select any one of the tracking options available. You’ll need to give Postling the exact keyword(s) or business name(s) that you want to track.

10-Add-Keywords

You can use Boolean search operators in these trackers. For example, you can use a search phrase like “Fishing rod review OR recommendation” to track either people who’re looking for reviews or recommendations.

You can learn about all the search operators you can use here:

http://www.googleguide.com/category/query-input/
Once you’ve setup all your trackers, click “Done! Start Using Postling Now” to continue.

11-Done

Step 7: Tracking Screen

The main screen of Postling is your tracking screen. Here you’ll see all the latest results from the keywords you’re tracking.

You can change what kind of content you want to view in this feed through the drop-down “view” menu at the top.

12-Tracking

Step 8: Publish a Status Update

To update your social media status, click “Update your Status” under “Publish” on the left hand navigation.

13-Click-Update-Status

You’ll be taken to the status update box.

To shorten a URL, just put the URL in the URL shortener. It’ll automatically generate a bitly link for you.

Type in the message you want to send to your social network. Check the social network(s) you want to post to on the right hand side. Then either click “Publish” or “schedule for later” to post your update.

There’s a character count in the upper right corner to help with Twitter posts.

14-Status-Updates

Step 9: Create a Blog Post

To create a new blog post, click “Create a Blog Post.”

15-Create-Blog-Post

A WYSIWYG editor will pop up. Use this editor to create your blog post.

16-Create-Post

Once you’re ready to post your message, check the boxes next to the blog(s) you want to post to. If you want to post the blog post to your social media networks as well, you can check those boxes too.

17-Where-to-Post

Step 10: Analytics

To access your analytics, click “Analytics” in the left hand side navigation bar.

18-Click-Analytics

Select the time period you want to see data for, as well as the account you want to see data for. Then use the checkboxes to check which data points you want to see.

19-Choose-What-to-See

The data will be graphed out at the top of the page. You can also scroll down to see the data laid out in text.

That’s how to use Postling to integrate social media, blog posting, analytics and reputation management. If you’re just using social media, Postling may not be the best integration solution. However, if you want to integrate a whole suite of web management tools all in one place, Postling should absolutely be one of your top choices.

Start Ranking Now, Inc. is Available for Consultations at the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce Expo 2012

Start Ranking Now, Inc. is one of the most well known online marketing companies in the greater Carlsbad and North County area. Nicole Munoz is preparing awesome materials, tips and strategies to share with the attendees at the expo.

Nicole giving a Training

Online PR News – 06-September-2012 –The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce is hosting the Business Expo 2012, featuring small businesses and essential business services based in Carlsbad, CA, and on September 07, 2012, at the La Costa Resort and Spa, in Carlsbad, CA, Nicole Munoz from Start Ranking Now will be available for personal consultations on how to leverage the latest features of local Internet search optimization (local SEO) so that customers can find local businesses as they shop. Local SEO has changed how the internet search engines find and rank sites, and gives businesses the opportunity to be in front of local clients. The best businesses from across the North County area are meeting to provide business owners with the products, services and support so that they can thrive in the 21st century digital economy.

Start Ranking Now, Inc. is one of the most well-known online marketing companies in the greater Carlsbad and North County area. Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking now’s CEO and founder, has assembled a global team of internet marketing experts and serves clients across the United States with website design, internet marketing strategies and integrated Social Media Marketing campaigns. The social medial revolution has changed what customers expect from companies when they access their websites – the virtual front door for any local business. So now is the time for local business owners to review their online presence and strategy.

The Business Expo 2012 gives businesses the opportunity to find key service providers and to expert service providers to connect with new clients. Nicole Munoz is preparing awesome materials, tips and strategies to share with the attendees at the expo. Based on her previous events, business owners can be sure that Nicole will come with the advice they require to energize their online marketing efforts.

The Business Expo is open to businesses across North County. The tickets cost only $10.00 USD per person. For more information please visit: http://www.startrankingnow.com/seo-speaker

About Nicole Munoz

Nicole Munoz is a mom, a missionary pastor’s wife, and lastly, an entrepreneur and business owner. She has launched three ecommerce sites, over 100 niche sites, and a successful SEO Company called StartRankingNow.com.

Her expertise and passion for the online business are well known and appreciated for all her customers and people involved in the online marketing.

3 Simple Ways to Use Pinterest as a Target Marketing Tool

pinterest

Pinterest is quickly rising as a referral source for e-commerce business, third behind Facebook and Twitter. Internet marketers can no longer ignore this social media site if you want to stay relevant and maximize online opportunities. To successfully use Pinterest as part of your marketing strategy, you need to know the following things:

  • The majority of Pinterest users are women who enjoy crafts, recipes and home décor
  • Pinterest is a visual medium with a high value on artistic expression
  • Various niches within your market
  • What your target market enjoys or is inspired by

With this information in hand (and perhaps the help of a graphic designer or photographer), you can begin to take aim (in a non-violent way, of course) at your target market.

Use boards to target different niches

One of the great things about Pinterest is the way you can categorize your pins onto certain boards. Each board can focus on one niche within your market. For example, if you’re an online shoe company, you could create a board that has to do with kids, one that has to do with athletes, one that focuses on career women and one that addresses foot care or pedicures. Within each niche, you could promote products as well as pin other items of interest to those viewing your board.

You could also set up a board to promote an event, pinning ideas about planning it, pictures of the venue, door prizes, speakers, inspirational thoughts behind the purpose of the event or silent auction items. This includes your followers in the planning stages while building anticipation for the event itself. If the event is for a charity, you’re promoting the charity and announcing your community involvement in subtle ways, too.

Pinterest board

Market a message

Is there a particular statistic that your market should know to motivate them to consider your product or service? Create an infographic about it and post it on the appropriate board. Once you know what inspires your target market, find quotes that reflect that message and re-pin them on your board. If you want your market to know how a product is made so they feel good about purchasing a fair trade product or supporting an eco-friendly company, pin a video showing the process. Or if your product can be used for multiple purposes or in multiple ways, create slideshow tutorials or video tutorials showing all the ideas.

Ask for feedback

Find out specifically what your target market wants by asking for feedback. There are a couple of ways to do that. One way is to create a group board asking for ideas about how you could improve a current product or create a new product. For example, if you sell supplies for babies, ask moms what product they wish somebody would make or what they wish was different about the diaper bags you make. You won’t be able to use every idea, but the feedback will be beneficial and give customers a creative voice.

Secondly, ask people to re-pin your stuff or to leave comments. The statistics will not be totally conclusive, but they can give you some idea about what Pinterest users are looking for, which will help you become a better Pinterestmarketer.

This is a Guest Blog Post by Tiffany Marshall from StartRankingNow.com

Stop Drinking Water from a Fire Hose

Social Media MarketingIf you’re struggling to get the most out of social media, you’re not alone. The sheer volume of information and conversations you can collect from various social media channels is overwhelming. As a business owner, you are able to connect with your customers, clients and prospects in real time, but what good does it do if you are deluged with so much information that making sense of it consumes your day?

For example, if you simply have a Twitter and Facebook account with 150 friends / followers on each, you now have 300 more people who can talk to you directly, at any hour of the day or night. Much of that conversation has no value to your day-to-day business activities. However, the few people who reach out to you and want to find out information, or want to give a review of their experience with your company expect to hear back from you.  Misusing social media by not paying attention to those who connect with you is worse than not having a social media presence at all.

Social MediaSo how to you sort the non-stop social media data stream? Trying to consume it all from your Facebook Wall or Twitter Dashboard is like trying to take a drink from a fire hose. In the same way classic literature’s heroes had a tragic flaw, social media’s benefit is its biggest downfall. Once you get past a few friends, fans and followers, you’re buried under digital comments, tweets, instagrams and pings.

Hootsuite is my favourite dashboard to manage multiple social media channels. Hootsuite allows you to connect with social media accounts from Facebook, Twitter,Ping, WordPress, Linked In and more, and see them all on a single, customizable desktop. While a few competing dashboards are out there, these features put Hootsuite at the top of my list.

  • Hootsuite is web-based, not an application I download to my desktop. This means that if I’m a guest on a computer, or at the local Internet Café, I can log onto my account and see the same thing that is on my trusty laptop.
  • Hootsuite has a mobile app that syncs with my account. So if I am on the run or sitting with my pad waiting for a client, I can log on and stay connected.
  • Hootsuite has a “Hootlet” app that integrated into Chrome or Firefox. From any page, at any time, I can click the Hootlet, and a miniature HootSuite application pops up. The URL is automatically shortened, and I can broadcast my latest find out to any of my Hootsuite channels.
  • Hootsuite allows me to create lists, based on groups of users, keywords, hashtags, or trending idea. I can look for information that is important, or listen to the voices that move my industry forward.

As a social media marketing company, Hootsuite is essential for managing our own social media message, and our clients’. From my Hootsuite desktop, I can zero in on any of the 20+ social media channels I manage, connect with that business’ tribe, and build their brand.

Rather than give you a systematic tutorial, check out www.hootsuite.com, or visit YouTube.com and search for tutorials. Easily managing your social media message and clearly connecting with your tribe is just a few clicks away.

This is a Guest Blog Post by Timothy Burns from StartRankingNow.com

All About Hashtags

twthashtags

 

One thing is certain: the internet world is constantly changing. This is the challenge for those of us who make a living utilizing its power. But as we keep up with the latest trends, we can come across interesting ways to capitalize on the social media front.

One example of change on the web is Twitter. Seemingly, this social site came out of nowhere and jetted right to the top of the popularity list. There are all sorts of people on Twitter, tweeting about anything and everything that comes to their minds. While many Tweeters are there strictly for social purposes, there seems to be a strong emergence of business people treading their way through the Twitterdom.

Hashtags were created to create groupings within the site; an organizational tool of sorts. They are a popular way of getting focused attention to your Tweets. Additionally, you can search hashtags to find tweets that are relevant to research you may be conducting, or just relevant to what you want to know about. For instance, if one would like to find tweets relating to article marketing, you can perform a twitter search for all tweets specific to that by searching “#article marketing”.

If you look further into the use of hashtags, you will discover that they have somewhat of a limited fan base at the moment. While their was a surge in popularity for a time, as well as a usefulness, overuse by some has caused popularity to wane. During the 2007 San Diego wildfires, hashtag use was instrumental in alerting the public to current events. They also were used as a call to action on the part of emergency services. This shows just how useful hashtags can be.

seoWhen considering the use of hashtags in your Tweets, it may be worth the time to perform a bit of research to see if your particular keyword is already being used in a hashtag thread. As you use hashtags, the key is to use them sparingly and to use them when you really want something to be followed. By looking around a little bit on Twitter, it is easy to find users who hashtag just about every Tweet they type. Really, nobody wants to read “I had the most amazing #chocolate #milkshake from #Carl’s Jr. today!”
Remember, Twitter asks a simple question: “What are you doing?” Answer the question; use natural keywords, use hashtags sparingly when you really want to drive home a point or call attention to something. Some of the things that hashtags are good for are emergency situations or natural disasters, as proved in 2007. Hashtags can also be used when tweeting quotes from others. “Highly developed spirits often encounter resistance from mediocre minds.”~Albert Einstein #quote
Hashtags may have their place, but Twitter IS a social media site directed at fulfilling peoples’ curiosity about one another in the here and now. Part of using social media in your business is to gain visibility…and familiarity. Overuse of hashtags can make your posts seem aimed not at the individual, but at the inner workings of the site itself.

Don’t lose sight of the other benefits of social media marketing. Pairing high touch with high tech is the way to build an enormous following. Hashtags, used sparingly, can be a part of your Twitter life, but shouldn’t take over the personal touch.

All About Hashtags

twthashtags

One thing is certain: the internet world is constantly changing. This is the challenge for those of us who make a living utilizing its power. But as we keep up with the latest trends, we can come across interesting ways to capitalize on the social media front.

One example of change on the web is Twitter. Seemingly, this social site came out of nowhere and jetted right to the top of the popularity list. There are all sorts of people on Twitter, tweeting about anything and everything that comes to their minds. While many Tweeters are there strictly for social purposes, there seems to be a strong emergence of business people treading their way through the Twitterdom.

Hashtags were created to create groupings within the site; an organizational tool of sorts. They are a popular way of getting focused attention to your Tweets. Additionally, you can search hashtags to find tweets that are relevant to research you may be conducting, or just relevant to what you want to know about. For instance, if one would like to find tweets relating to article marketing, you can perform a twitter search for all tweets specific to that by searching “#article marketing”.

If you look further into the use of hashtags, you will discover that they have somewhat of a limited fan base at the moment. While their was a surge in popularity for a time, as well as a usefulness, overuse by some has caused popularity to wane. During the 2007 San Diego wildfires, hashtag use was instrumental in alerting the public to current events. They also were used as a call to action on the part of emergency services. This shows just how useful hashtags can be.

seoWhen considering the use of hashtags in your Tweets, it may be worth the time to perform a bit of research to see if your particular keyword is already being used in a hashtag thread. As you use hashtags, the key is to use them sparingly and to use them when you really want something to be followed. By looking around a little bit on Twitter, it is easy to find users who hashtag just about every Tweet they type. Really, nobody wants to read “I had the most amazing #chocolate #milkshake from #Carl’s Jr. today!”
Remember, Twitter asks a simple question: “What are you doing?” Answer the question; use natural keywords, use hashtags sparingly when you really want to drive home a point or call attention to something. Some of the things that hashtags are good for are emergency situations or natural disasters, as proved in 2007. Hashtags can also be used when tweeting quotes from others. “Highly developed spirits often encounter resistance from mediocre minds.”~Albert Einstein #quote
Hashtags may have their place, but Twitter IS a social media site directed at fulfilling peoples’ curiosity about one another in the here and now. Part of using social media in your business is to gain visibility…and familiarity. Overuse of hashtags can make your posts seem aimed not at the individual, but at the inner workings of the site itself.

Don’t lose sight of the other benefits of social media marketing. Pairing high touch with high tech is the way to build an enormous following. Hashtags, used sparingly, can be a part of your Twitter life, but shouldn’t take over the personal touch.

Tracking Trends on Social Media Sites

Building a super successful ecommerce business really is something you can do from your Lazy Boy recliner! That doesn’t mean you should, of course, it just means that there are numerous tools in place to help you stay at the top of your gasocialme at all times. And at all times, the game is about keywords and relevance.

When running ad campaigns and attempting to drive more traffic to your site, keywords are of the utmost importance. Go too vague, and you loose consumers who are looking for something specific. Research is absolutely necessary before you begin any adword campaign, and also periodically throughout your marketing efforts. The following tools will help you gain valuable knowledge regarding keywords.

When searching the latest and greatest social media sites for buzz on keywords related to your business niche, it is important that you look at the words used in conjunction with your keywords, for oftentimes users are simply mentioning something and a particular keyword happens to be included. The goal is to find out if there is a buzz related to what you have to offer, and what that buzz is.

Lexicon is one tool that will help you get your hand on the pulse of the general public. This application is used with the popular social media site, Facebook. To utilize Lexicon on Facebook, you need to first have a Facebook account, for this application is used in conjunction with the site. Lexicon searches wall posts to obtain a general conversation held throughout the site; pretty fascinating, if you ask me.

Once logged on to Facebook, simply search “lexicon” (quotations not necessary) and the application will become available. You can use this application to search for specific keywords related to your business. For example, if you sell pizza, you will see that in December, relatively few people post about pizza. Perhaps this indicates that many are still recovering from their Thanksgiving day festivities. Try out Lexicon for your niche and see what sort of buzz you tune into.

 twist-twitter

And then there is Twitter, the new craze that has wings flapping and fingers strumming keyboards all across the globe. For searching Tweets, there is Twist. Twist was actually launched in 2008, but not everyone has caught on to the benefits of Twitter tools for business just yet. What Twist does is similar to Lexicon, but for the Twitter site only. Twist finds all mentions of your specified terms in messages and graphs them over time. Using Twist, you can even click on any specific term and go directly to recent Tweets for that phrase.

Using Twist, you can compare terms against one another. For instance, let’s take the pizza business again. Comparing pizza to burgers, you will find that pizza wins out every time as far as mentions go. From this data, you could draw the conclusion that the pizza business would fair better than a burger joint.

Now, you are most likely not selling pizza or burgers, I know; but examples are what they are. The main point of these applications is to help you see what the general public’s awareness is on any given topic. When your focus is to build your business, it is the voice of the general public that matters the most; and therefore utilizing social media sites and their tools will do the best job of telling you what you need to know.

Social Media Marketing – Social Media Marketing for Growth

Here’s what I see as the big dilemma of online business:  people don’t like to be sold.  This mindset held by millions of consumers worldwide produces highly fickle shoppers that will bounce from a website quickly if they feel the old “car salesman” push.

Where does that leave growing businesses when trying to get the word out about new products features and benefits?  Pay per click campaigns can quickly add up to large amounts of investment for customers who click on your page and then leave.  They also can sit idle because consumers who see those links on the search engine as advertisements will simply skip over them and move on to search results that show up organically.

What does this one behavior tell you about online shoppers?  I think it says that consumers like recommendations from other consumers over sales pitches from the store that has exactly what they are looking for.  This behavior also accounts for the widespread popularity of Social Media and Social Media Marketing.  First let’s look at Social Media.

Typically, media refers to news and print.  In regards to marketing, using traditional media techniques, called industrial media”, can be so costly that a small business could never hope to invest in marketing of this kind.  Social Media is generated by users, not manufacturers.  Take YouTube for instance:  this highly popular site is filled to the brim with videos ranging from funny animals to business techniques.  What is special about YouTube is that the videos posted there are done so by users, not employees of the company.

Social media can take many different forms.  These include weblogs or social blogs, podcasts, internet forums, pictures and video.  Just about everyone with a MySpace profile has favorite pictures and videos plastered through their site pages, as well as their favorite playlist.  What happens in Social Media is that users are now active participants in the whole online experience.

Now, how does this apply to your business?  Easy.  Keep in mind that people do business with people they know.  Up until now, it has been a bit of a difficult task to earn the trust of the average fickle pickle consumer.  But for the business owner who utilizes powerful Social Media Marketing techniques, business has never been better.  Becoming active on Social Media sites such as Twitter, YouTube or even Facebook and Myspace allows a company to reach out to the public in a way that is non-threatening. Startrankingnow is a good example to this.

Creating a blog is another way to interact with consumers.  Setting up and posting regularly about general issues relating to your business without pushing a product or service shows them that you are a good source of information, not a salesperson.  When first getting into the blogosphere, it is wise not to talk much about yourself.  Here’s another wise tip:  people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  Show that you care about the thoughts and opinions of others when posting blogs and you will gain a reputation that will eventually lead to increased site traffic and sales.

The Best Advertising is Press

smmA common concern amongst busy entrepreneurs is how to effectively market their business.  Let’s face it; if you’re not seen, you can’t make money.  Advertising can get expensive and there are no guarantees that any paid advertising will increase web traffic to your site anyway.  And yet most professionals overlook the power of a good press release!  This is understandable, as the preconceived notion may be that press releases come from news.  And if your company is not making news, then it doesn’t deserve press.

Not so.  When you have spent as much time as you have in finding a product or service to offer, priority must be given to marketing.  Since we live in a technologically advanced society, Social Media Marketing is where it’s at.  Advertising your business through press releases on the web through sites such as Google News can create a huge buzz that can lead you down the path of success.

An effective press release is good for building backlinks, credibility, and visibility in Google News for keywords.  Press releases also often receive good placement in search results for long tail keywords.  However, writing a press release yourself can be a daunting task that quickly begins to eat up the valuable time in your day.  Time is a CEOs most valuable asset, and should be spent wisely.  This is why outsourcing to a press release distribution service like Start Ranking Now is worth the small investment you would make.

For one, an effective press release can significantly improve your overall search engine rankings.  Key word being “effective”.   Every day, thousands of press releases are being distributed.  How to make sure yours is not overlooked amid the sea of news?  Know how to write!  If you don’t, that’s ok.  The professional team at Start Ranking Now know exactly what to do and how to do it.  Writing a press release is like breathing for these people!

The benefits of writing a press release are worth it.  The thing about this sort of advertising over others is that there is more credibility in it.  Press releases are give the perception of a third-party endorsement.  And since word of mouth marketing is the best way in increase web traffic to your site, a press release can act as the “mouth” that spreads the word!

No matter what the size of your budget, social media marketing is a tool that you can begin using today to grow your business. For a miniscule investment, you can have your very own press release, with added backlinks, distributed across the internet. Working with a professional team like Start Ranking Now eases your burden of trying to accomplish all the marketing yourself and leaves you with the time you need to effectively run your booming business.  There is so much to gain by taking advantage of a well written press release.  Credibility.  A reputation.  Visibility.  These things add up to an increase in web traffic, which equals more success for your site, which equals dreams coming true.