4 Ways to Use Social Media Cues to Engage People
As much as we (rightly) praise Google for having transformed our lives for the better, sometimes we all want answers that go beyond the right search query. Sometimes we want to reach out to someONE rather than someTHING.
But engaging in a conversation requires trust. And just as no newsletter sign-up form or invitation should be without trust-building assurances and privacy statements, no social media invitation or landing page should be without its own persuasive and trust-building cues.
While looking at Adam Cohen’s recent rundown of social media landing pages (think landing pages that convey social media options for customers), I was struck by some observations. Consider these four cues to incorporate into your social media landing page and campaign designs: 
Outsourcing Social Media: Good or Bad Idea?
One of the big concerns about using social media for business and marketing is time. Social media activities do pose a risk of drawing you in and taking up a huge amount of your day just interacting with people.
Add that the technology is changing all the time. It can seem impossible to keep up with all the tools, software, techniques, etiquette, and social media best practices.
It’s hardly surprising that people are looking to social media consultants, agencies and contractors to take on their social media activity. But should you? Let’s explore this.
Social Media Marketing Lowers Acquisition Costs 39 Percent for TakeLessons.com
It was a classic business beginning. Two friends, some margaritas, and maybe a little cocktail napkin scribbling.
In 2004, Steven Cox sat down with a fellow musician after a gig. Cox’s friend and his wife were expecting their first baby and hoping to buy a house. But as a musician and private instructor, he struggled with making ends meet.
“Playing music doesn’t necessarily pay all the bills, unless you have a really big contract or gig,” Cox says. “My friend was hanging flyers in drugstores and music stores but still not finding enough students.”
Cox, once a full-time musician, worked a day job in IT and management consulting at the time. When he suggested his friend go online to connect with aspiring musicians, the friend confessed, “I’m a musician. I don’t know anything about that.”
With that, Cox began orchestrating TakeLessons.com.
Today, TakeLessons is America’s leading music and voice lessons company—a position reached largely through social media marketing.
Top 10 Easy Steps to Starting a Business Blog
Though they had been around for many years, blogs burst on the scene as a hot marketing tool around 2003 when marketers discovered easy-to-use blogging platforms like Blogger, Typepad, and WordPress.
However, just because anyone can set up a blog, doesn’t mean everyone should, and many professionals and businesses start blogging without giving any thought to why, how and who will be doing the blogging.
Over 50 percent of blogs are abandoned within the first 90 days. While this isn’t really important if you’re writing a personal diary, political or celebrity blog, it is very important if you start a blog for your business and don’t keep posting on it consistently and with purpose.
When a prospect lands on a blog that hasn’t been updated in months, it’s akin to walking into a vacant store with busted windows and dust blowing in. It’s just not pretty; and it doesn’t look good for you, your business reputation and your branding.
Don’t let that happen to you. Start right, start smart and follow a few suggested guidelines. First, let’s review some basics:
