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Free But Far Reaching – Social Media Giants That All Businesses Must Consider for Brand Management

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Arba Hana

Twitter boasts around 500 million active users sending 340 million tweets daily. More than 900 million people sign in to Facebook every day, spending an average of 15 hours per month on the site.  YouTube has 490 million unique visitors per month, and they watch 2.9 billion hours of video every month.

Social media has worked itself into the fabric of our everyday life, and the potential for customers new and old to see your brand via these social media channels (and a few others) are very high. Each one is free. If you’re not representing your brand on social media, you’re missing out.

Learn more about some of the best, free but far reaching social media giants on internet that all business must consider for brand management.

 

Facebook:

Arguably the largest and most heavily used social media platform is Facebook. Virtually every industry targeting any age group or gender can find their target market on Facebook, where grandmothers “like” photos of their teenage grand kids and bosses comment on their employees’ photos. Using Facebook Pages, which were introduced for businesses in November 2007, you can personalize your Facebook presence and target the segment of Facebook’s widespread demographic user that applies to your business.

Facebook Pages let you integrate your brand seamlessly into the platform. Big, bold cover images allow you to show off your brand “personality”, and status updates, photo albums and polls can let you develop your brand voice and interact and engage your customers. Facebook allows you to customize  “apps”, or tabs you’re your Page to highlight products, run contests, add disclaimers or show off a variety of other content. Facebook Offers for fan pages, which is a free service for Facebook page admins, is one of the newest features available to build your brand. The Facebook Offers feature is as easy as posting a status update, and is a great way to promote a new product or service.  Fans redeem Facebook Offers via their smartphone or from an email that’s mailed to them after they get the offer.

Twitter:

The second largest social media heavy hitter is Twitter, a micro-blogging platform in which users send 140 characters into their “stream”. Anyone can read the messages, called “tweets”, but registered Twitter users can follow others, respond to tweets and forward their friends tweets to their own stream (a practice known as “retweeting”.)  Twitter’s demographic is a bit more limited than Facebook – 35% live in urban areas, the median age is 31 and users tend to have a lower income than Facebook users. The lingo might sound funny – and the platform might sound confusing – but Twitter is one of the most powerful ways to monitor what people are saying about your brand in real time and address issues before they turn into a major PR problem.

To use Twitter to build your brand, search for and follow users who are your target market and location. Make sure you monitor your mentions and search for keywords applying to your business.  Create lists (another great Twitter feature) with other businesses in your industry, other local businesses or national industry news outlets or brands, and retweet interesting articles; this can help you build your industry expertise. There are many Twitter management platforms available, such as TweetDeck and HootSuite, to make the hefty job of  monitoring Twitter easier by letting you display columns of streams (such as mentions, specific lists or retweeted messages) on one screen.

YouTube

If a picture says a 1000 words, how many words can a video deliver? YouTube has silently answered that question by growing leaps and bounds since its start in February 2005. Companies are finding this video sharing site, on which users can upload, view, and subscribe to, comment on and rate videos of all types – from professional shot and editing pieces to music videos to amateur smart phone videos.

Build your brand on YouTube by thinking outside the realm of traditional head shot interview pieces or scripted marketing videos. Video blogging, or vlogging, is a great way to establish your company’s voice and show the personality behind the brand. Product demos can give your customers the “try it before you buy it” look at your products that could tip the scales in the favor of a sale. How-to videos can show your customers you’re an expert in your field, and as an added bonus, are the type of videos social media fans love to share with their friends. The majority of videos out there aren’t professionally made, so don’t let the technology of video editing keep you away from using YouTube to build your brand – all you need is a webcam and an outline!

An added bonus of using YouTube is increased search engine rankings. After Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion in November 2006, YouTube videos started showing up quite often in searches, and have become increasingly weighted. YouTube videos not only let your customers get to know your brand, but they can also bring new customers to you through search engine traffic.

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Arba writes on topics related to branding and marketing. If you are looking for brand management services, you can try this brand consultancy service provided by some of the best in business.

Standing on the Shoulder of the Marketing Giant Known as Weight Watchers

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Capturing weight loss market is not a mean feat at all. To start with, we are talking about an industry that generates revenues exceeding a whopping $61 billion in United States alone.  According to a rough estimate there are more than 110 million people on a diet plan with a majority looking to lose weight. Another survey suggests that Americans spend more than 50 billion on weight loss products per annul, with hundreds of companies battling for the market share. To come up as a clear winner in a market like this, and that too with an impressive margin that makes its competitors look like dwarfs in comparison, certainly needs extra ordinary marketing skills and business acumen. And that is why I think, being marketers, we can all learn a thing or two by taking a leaf out of weight watcher’s marketing book.

Remember that weight watchers stands head and shoulders above its closest competitorse.g. Nutrisystem or eDiet (have a look at the difference). And looking at the growth rate in the recent past, it doesn’t seem to have any plans of slowing down in near future. So how does this company has managed to capture one of the most competitive markets out there? Especially when we look at their target customers (folks looking to shed those extra pounds), there is quite some confidence building required. It’s a fact that a big majority of weight loss customers are quite skeptical of those diet plans or training equipments that promise big and deliver nothing. And still weight watchers manage to get more than one million members on board in a relatively short period of time … it must be doing something right?

Let’s take a look at some of the most salient features of their marketing strategy.

Coming up with a Commercial Solution:

The word “commercial” is the key here; because a successful business is that comes up with a “money-spinning” solution to some common problem (even though the emphasis on “money making” might sound a little evil). But doing so is easier said than done … at times a problem and its apparent solution might appear too simple that you will be hard-pressed to try and find a way to make money out of it. And obesity is one such problem, because all one needs to do is to follow a strict diet and exercise plan? But that is where market research comes into play … because a simple study will reveal that a big majority of potential customers in the market, being overweight or obese is just one of the many problems in their lives, and most of them are too caught up in their routine lives to be able to calculate the calories in everything they eat, or the number of calories burned every time they move a muscle. They need a more practical solution instead of just a simple advice which is not feasible. You shouldn’t just stop at showing them the way; you need to escort them all the way to their goals. Not only, you need to give them a plan, but you also need to make sure that the execution doesn’t take lots of planning or thinking on their part.

Do the Convincing:

This can be the most difficult part, you can create a solution that you deem to be the ultimate answer to their problems, but you will need to transmit this conviction to your customers.If you’ve been a keen observer of the markets, you must have seen some quality products failing to make the mark, while some lesser ones manage to sweep the market. The difference lies in marketing and branding. You can’t really expect the customers to buy and try all sorts of different products. You have got to do the convincing, which is precisely what weight watchers have been doing quite profoundly.

Innovation and Evolution:

Doesn’t matter if you are on the top or bottom of the ladder, you cannot afford to get stagnant and stop innovating, because if you do that, it wouldn’t be long before you see a new business overtaking yours and capturing the market in a jiffy. Weight Watchers has recently launched its line of products specifically for men, which bring us to our second point which is evolution. Weight loss companies, for some reasons, have always been targeting the women, maybe because ladies tend to be a bit more conscious about their looks and appearances, but the times are changing, and you have got all sorts of salons, cosmetics, and fashion products targeting the men. Not to forget the health risks associated with the obesity, so there’s no reason why men wouldn’t be as eager to lose those extra pounds as any other woman out there. Being a marketer, you cannot afford to close your eyes from shifts in the trends.

360 Degree Marketing:

One of the strongest feature of weight watchers marketing strategy is that they are making the most of almost all available marketing mediums, be it the offline ones like magazines, newspapers, or television, or the online platforms like social media or search engines. The company is almost 50 years old, and throughout this period they have managed to stay one step ahead of their competitors. Instead of just sitting back and waiting, they have managed to take the right initiative at the right time, be it the launch of their new website, or the decision to have an active presence on social media, creating a mobile friendly version of their website or an entire range of smart phone apps for their users.

And this multifaceted approach is not just limited to their marketing strategy, when we look at their revenue generating sources, we will find that they are as diverse as their marketing mix, for example a large proportion of their revenue comes from the subscription or membership fee, then comes the sale of products, followed by revenues generated online, and in the end we have the revenues generated by licensing and royalties, all in all a winning combination and the numbers speak for themselves.

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Rahil is an online entrepreneur and fitness enthusiast. Check his site to find reviews of weight watchers. Bistro MD and Weight Watchers coupon codes can help people looking to lose weight and stay fit.

Attention Bloggers – Three Laws You Must Understand While Blogging

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Arba Hana

The internet is not governed by any centralized legal body, however, that doesn’t make it immune to laws related to copyrights, defamation and privacy laws. Failing to adhere to any of these laws can land you in hot water, regardless of your location, mainly because online laws are of universal nature. Keeping these laws in mind is both a moral, and in some cases, legal obligation because everything you publish can be read by a global audience and you just cannot afford to offend anyone.

1.) Copyright Laws

Plagiarism is wrong, both ethically and legally. If you can’t write your own content, don’t bother starting a blog. Copying other work will result in some “cease and desist” notice, Google’s penalty, or even worse a legal suite. A copyright law passed in 1978 has declared all work published, doesn’t matter if it’s on paper or in digital form, it is automatically protected by copyright laws and there needs to be no specific mentioning of a “copyright protected” logo on the site that you are copying from. Therefore, bloggers are given automated protection for their original work and with latest software advancements, it’s quite easy to find out who plagiarized content and from where.

If you really want to include a certain passage or an entire article from another source then you must give citation. Don’t be shy of accrediting others for their work, you won’t lose your readers, instead they will appreciate you as someone who shares authentic information with its sources instead of just hogwash.

Not to forget the copyright when you are using images on your blog, stock photography websites are quite active when it comes to finding out people who are using it illegally and sending notices (e.g. Getty images)

So before you start blogging, you should take out some time and spend it on reading about copyright laws and its implications here.

2.) Online Defamation Laws

Online defamation is the publication of the information that directly harms the reputation of an individual or organization. It’s generally published with a malicious intent of invoking harm on to the victim. Even though the internet promotes a somewhat free culture, any site that indulges in publishing false defamatory information can face legal consequences. Religious defamation is the most active form of online defamation with certain regions being harsher than others. If you value your reputation and your life, do not indulge in defamatory activities especially on a global platform like Internet. Unless you are a journalist, a politician or anyone with a hold on verifiable facts and figures, you should steer clear from stating any rumor or false information on your blog.

At the end of the day, blogging should be more about constructive information. You should avoid defaming any individual/organization based on personally formed opinions. And it holds true for other platforms like Twitter as well.

3.) Privacy Policy:

All websites and blogs must have a clearly stated privacy policy. The policy is used to inform visitors about information collected and the sharing of that data with third parties. This could include sensitive information such as visitor name, email address, images and any other related data. You will be directed to publish a privacy policy whenever you are applying for an account at companies like 2checkout.com or moneybookers.com; even Google has made it compulsory for wannabe Adsense publishers to have a privacy policy on their blogs. You can search online for a number of privacy policy samples available for free, but you must give them a read and know your responsibilities as a blogger.

Always make sure your posts and publications are in league with laws and regulations of your country. As a responsible citizen, you are entitled to provide accurate information backed with verifiable facts and stay away from malicious content and activities.

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Arba writes on topics related to laws and regulations.  She’s working for a website that lets you find notary in all parts of US. You can search for the notaries by state or by counties.

What might trigger a Tax Audit for your Small Business and How to Steer Clear

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Payroll, shipping, invoicing, client communications – with so much going on a small business often starts to feel like a three-ring circus, and as the owner or manager of a small business, you might feel like the overworked ringleader. One aspect of owning a small business that can strike fear into an owner’s heart is being pinged by the IRS for an audit.

As a small business owner, the chances of your taxes being audited by the IRS are relatively low. According to the IRS, only about 1 percent of personal taxpayers are audited, but small business owners have a slightly higher chance of facing an audit i.e. about 2.5 percent. There are various ways small business owners can trigger an audit, from simple mathematical mistakes to fudging your numbers to posting losses in multiple years. Here are some of the biggest mistakes small businesses owners can make on their taxes that may trigger a tax audit and how you can steer clear of these mistakes.

Exorbitant Claims

Many business owners like to regularlymeet clients face-to-face, and this might include the occasional dinner or cup of coffee. The IRS is very strict on claiming this type of deduction, so before you add it to your return, read up carefully on the guidelines. As a rule of thumb, you can deduct 50 percent of your business-related meal and entertainment expenses, including the cost of food, beverages, taxes and tips. Also allowed are any activities considered to provide entertainment, including nightclubs, sporting clubs, theaters, sporting events or vacations.

You are unable to deduct club dues or membership fees, fees for use of entertainment facilities (including any you own and for which you pay maintenance fees) and out-of-pocket expenses. Additionally, some gifts are deductible, but no more than $25 for business gifts per person during a tax year.

Steer Clear Tip: Keep your receipts with detailed notes on each entertainment event or meal you deduct. Make sure you note the business purpose, a description of the event and the business relationship. If you have your notes in order, you can easily present them and avoid an audit for your small business.

Home Office Claims

Many small businesses owners, especially those who work the majority of their hours from their home or work virtually, think they can deduct their home office.  Others may be tempted to stretch their definition of a home office. While the IRS encourages you to consider the Home Office Deduction, they are rather strict on the definition of a home office.

According to the IRS, your home can be considered a home office if part or your home is used exclusively or regularly as your principal place of business, as a place to meet clients or customers or any area not attached to your home (i.e. a separate structure on your property) that is used for business.  Special rules apply for day-care facilities and home offices used to store business inventory or product. The amount you can deduct depends on what percentage of your home is used.

The terms “exclusively” and “regularly” are the key. An extra room or study with a desk, bookshelves, and other office “equipment” used specifically for work – and rarely if ever for personal use – qualifies.  A desk in your living room where you set up shop a few days a week does not.

Steer Clear Tip: Read the IRS rules very, very carefully before considering the Home Office Deduction. If you’re not sure, contact a tax expert or don’t take the deduction.

Reporting More Losses Than Profits

Self-employed small business owners likely must fill out the Profit or Loss from Business (Sole Proprietorship) form, otherwise known as the Schedule C. This form reports what you made or lost in your business in the tax year.   Any type of business can be reported on the Schedule C except for farming and rental activities, and is calculated by taking the income from all sources and subtracting business expenses for a net profit or loss for the business.

You never expect a loss for your business, but in this economy, it happens. However, if you report losses three out of five years, it’s a red flag for an IRS audit, and they may determine your business is a hobby and your Schedule C loss will be disallowed.

Steer Clear Tip: Make sure you keep documents, receipts and detailed notes for your business and conduct it in a business-like manner. The burden of proof is on you to prove your business is legitimately a business and not just a hobby. If you’re losing money year after year, talk with a tax professional.

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Rahil writes on topics related to small business and marketing. If you are looking to start a small business, you might be interested in Sales tax training, if that’s the case you can visit this website and Take sales classes online. The website offers all kinds of sales and tax classes.

Fighting the Stress of Blogging by Staying Fit

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Blogging was never meant to be an activity that contributes to your stress (in fact it was supposed to be the opposite) but somehow, it is becoming more and more stressful, given the competition and how much more challenging blogging has actually become.

If you are about to start a blog, and you’re inspired by the stories of bloggers who started blogging as a pastime some years ago, and now they are making hundreds and thousands of dollars from their blogs (if they are to be believed), please beware that it is not going to be the case when you launch a blog in this time and age. Sorry to break it to you, but while it was easy to hit the jackpot with little or no effort some time ago, now the internet in general, and blogosphere in specific is turning more and more vicious, and jumping into the red ocean (read: Blue Ocean Strategy) and coming face to face with the big fish is going to be quite tiresome, if not destructive.

To cut a long story short, full time blogging, especially when you are doing it for the sole purpose of making money, can be quite stressful and unhealthy for following reasons.

  • A succession of Panda updates have disposed all of those easy content generation techniques (e.g. spinning or re-phrasing news or others’ articles) and now you need to spend quite some time, and do a lot of thinking to create fresh and unique content on regular basis. And all that time in front of PC with little or no physical activity can result in obesity, weight gain, poor diet, and bad health in general
  • Getting your blog to the top of Google’s results for your desired keywords (AKA SEO) is getting more and more difficult
  • To make the most of your blog, you will have to promote it on all available platforms including(but is not limited to) Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, optimizing for search engines, and other blogs via guest blogging, and again, it can take quite some time and efforts
  • Staying in front of your PC or laptop for long hours and pushing your mind all the time for more and more ideas can contribute to stress and even mild depression in some cases
  • Sitting all the time in front of your PC or laptop will result in bad posture and a seriously out of shape figure, you might even end up gaining weight, and all these ailments will definitely add to your stress
  • Going through your fellow bloggers’ experiences and success stories (even if some of them are nothing but hyperbole), you will feel quite disheartened, especially if your own blogging experience isn’t as fulfilling as others

Taking all of the above in consideration, we can safely declare that modern blogging is a job full of stress, and if you are not taking your mental and physical fitness seriously, it can cast quite negative effects on your overall health and well being.

So here’s the two-way approach to stay fit and deal with the stress built by blogging.

Goal One – Stay Physically Fit:

As earlier suggested, full time blogging will require you to spend more and more time in front of your PC, because you need to be online for everything, from finding new topics to researching for the material, and writing your posts to doing the marketing, and spending all this time while sitting in a bad, bad posture can’t be good for your body. You need to make up for this lack of physical activity by fitting in some exercise routines or sports to your daily schedule to make sure you are not putting up excessive weight. Secondly, if you are looking to take up blogging as a full time job, try to do more work on a standard PC instead of a laptop or notebook, because the smaller screens and keypads will put extra strain on your body parts like eyes, wrists, and shoulders. Lastly, for Bloggers, it can become even more important to maintain a healthy diet program, for example, a big part of your work will require mental labor, therefore it is recommended that you are consuming food which is good for healthy brain, for example salmon, avocado, or walnuts (of course after consulting with your physician).

Goal Two – Stay Mentally Fit:

A healthy body will eventually result in a hale and hearty mind, plus you need to provide your mind with some respite and lots of breaks, mainly because in blogging you are making it work harder than the routine jobs. Ideally, all full time bloggers must be having some sort of a hobby or pastime Away from the computer or TV screen. It will help if you can go out and meet your friends and have some good laugh to wash away the tiredness accumulated from hours and hours of blogging. Lastly, (and this one is going to be tough), try not to be too greedy, because unrealistic expectations or goals will result in more and more stress.

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This post was by Rahil who writes for WeightLossTriumph, who offers fitness related coupon codes like  nutrisystem coupons codes and TRX promotions at his website. You will find many more discounts and reviews of popular products, in addition to nutrisystem and TRX, if you visit his site.

How Physical Exercise and Blogging Has Resulted in Empowerment in my Life

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If you are like the rest of the world then you must have encountered days when you feel depressed, dismal, and alone. Sometimes it’s easier to go through the life without even thinking about the challenges but the reality is that they are out there, and you will be facing one sooner than later. There may be things in your life that don’t work out as expected and this leaves you with a feeling of glum and optimism. It is normal for someone to feel this way.

In my experience, having bouts of sadness during tough times has become a learning experience, providing me with wisdom and strength. Life can take you in different directions and the end game isn’t always certain even when we feel that we are in control. The important thing to realize is that there is always a choice, to stand up and fight through another day instead of letting the adversities to pin you down and drowning in sorrow and despair.

So, how to overcome these challenges in life and stay resilient? For me, two things have helped me a great deal i.e. Exercising and Writing (AKA Blogging).

Mental and Emotional Toughness:

You might have heard of the expression “life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it”. It’s true that “how we manage our lives” can make a huge difference to our lives. It is how we perceive problems that dictate the outcome in the end. Avoiding the feeling of being victimized can help you overcome adversity and triumph against your problems, when you feel strong both mentally and physically you will be able to view your situation with a sense of power and confidence.

Working out to lose weight can help overcome negative feelings

Staying in shape or losing weight through training can help you become more agile and in control of your physical well-being. When you are out of shape you might end up with a lot of habits that can hinder your wellness and make you feel weak and helpless. By becoming active and engaging in active lifestyle, you can start to empower yourself and gain the resolution that you may have lost.

How blogging can help overcome negative feelings

You have to understand that even at a standstill, life continues to progress, and you have to treat your body and mind as such, even when you are facing hundreds of problems, you’ve got to keep going. Writing can help take the edge off negative thoughts and creates an outlet for expression and problem solving. When you blog, you can let off some steam and help you gain a clear perspective of challenges that you may be facing.

Writing and Exercising to empower yourself

Writing and exercise is a means of caring for your inner being. Exercise and fitness encourage you to become stronger in life by honing your physicality. When you start working out, you are actually making the decision to do something good for yourself and nurturing your spirit by improving your overall physical state. The same can be said when you express yourself through writing. Sharing your positive (or negative) thoughts with others and getting their response can inspire you to maintain a good outlook towards your life and seek the solutions that may have evaded you in the past.

Getting involved in positive activities like writing or exercising will result in a healthy mental paradigm. Taking responsibility of your physical and mental well-being is imperative, so that you can perform better in life and develop a sense of self that is empowered and understands your true worth. Regular exercise is not just a bid to stay fit; it is a step towards more control and empowerment in your life. These are the principles that you will see getting highlighted at diet or weight loss programs like Medifast and Nutrisystem.

When you are taking good care of your mind and body, and spending time taking care of your personal well-being you will notice that everything else in your life will start to fall into place.

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Arba Hana is a young online entrepreneur, she writes for a discount websites sharing medifast coupons and nutrisystem discount code. There are other coupon codes like medifast or nutrisystem as well.