A major change that has really overwhelmed a lot of well established businesses is the switch from print to online marketing. Potential customers know that finding a service or a product is as easy as 'search and click'. Print advertising is on the way out. Who looks up the phone book these days?  If you are in business and you are finding it a challenge understanding how online marketing works then you are not alone, you are however losing money fast if you are not coming up in search engines like Google or Yahoo when people are searching.

There are a few key ways to market your product or service on the internet. 1. Social Networking, 2. Sponsored Links, 3. Free Links, and 4. Optimizing your website for search engines.

Lets look at each of these in more detail starting with Social Networking.

Social Networking -

Here are a few facts about Social Networking:

• The top five social networking sites are, Facebook, Twitter, Habbo, Badoo, Windows Live Spaces, Linked In, Bebo, Tagged, Google+ and Myspace.
• Social Media accounts 25% of all time spent online over 35 minutes per hour.
• 64% of Facebook users have liked a brand on Facebook.
• 43% of Facebook users who “unlike” a brand do so because of too much push marketing.
• 46% of micro business owners utilize social media.
• Ford’s 2011 Explorer launch on Facebook generated a 200% greater return than a Super Bowl ad.

Ok so you can see why it's important! : )

Some business owners don't have the computer skills to allow them to utilize social media fully and can't afford to pay someone to do it. It's a sad fact of life that if these business owners don't either 'skill up' or find someone who can do it for them for them they are going to be obsolete in a few years. Finding someone to do it for you (if the word 'skill-up' fills you with a feeling of dread) could be as easy as asking a friend or relative who is 'always online' to do it for you for free, a swap or at minimal cost.

I compare Social Media Websites to a big online 'coffee shop' where people gather to meet, chat, laugh and have fun. If you walked into a coffee shop in real life to advertise your business with a big sign, shoving it in everyone's faces you wouldn't be very popular, in fact people would probably ask you to leave. What you would do is sit on your own for a while (if you don't have a couple of friends with you - which is recommended) and maybe after people got used to you you could strike up a conversation and try and make some new friends. On social networking sites your new friends, if they like you, will want to find out more about you. People view your profile because you are so interesting and they see a link for your business page, they like it or they add it to their favorites or they sometimes even promote it for you by sharing it or by posting a link to it. After this its a matter of keeping that 'like' intact.

Keeping your business popular on social media sites is a skill to be learned but making mistakes can have dire results. Once you lose a subscription to your business page it's nearly impossible to get it back. The fact that 43% of Facebook users who “unlike” a brand do so because of too much push marketing means that we have to market in more subtle ways. Sharing useful information, having competitions, quizzes, real news about your business, getting people involved are all better ways to market in a social media setting.

If you want to learn more about social networking please contact me, Ruth on 0871546839.

Flydesign is offering a special this week only: 25% off normal price for setting up (and verifying) a multimedia business facebook page and connecting it with twitter and your websites.