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Social networking on Facebook for business is a really hot topic.

There seems to be a near limitless myriad of ways on Facebook to build brand exposure and sales for home business and small business entrepreneurs. From creating games & applications, to developing groups and fan pages. That doesn’t even cover being able to advertise on Facebook too based on targeted demographics.

So many people struggle with understanding why and HOW being on Facebook can be beneficial to building business whether they’re a brick & mortar business, network marketer, a restaurant or bar, affiliate marketer, eBay’er…and what is possible through this whole “social networking thing on Facebook”.

I went through my old bookmarks and wanted to be able to share with you some cool Facebook stuff I found when I was first looking for Facebook how-to’s, articles and blog posts that I benefitted from checking out when I first started using Facebook for business.

Inside Facebook – a great blog that is all about Facebook.

Facebook’s Ads Page where all the reasons are given by Facebook as to why advertising your business on Facebook will benefit your small business branding.

Five Ways Small Business Can Benefit from Social Media/Networking Sites

Networking: Use Facebook as a Marketing Tool This is a fantastic article on Lifehacker on utilizing self-promotion to take social networking to a professional networking level.

How to Create a Successful Facebook Group

Top Five Viral Facebook Techniques Some great tips on using giveaways, referrals and a couple of other apps. Allfacebook.com is a great site BTW.

Entrepreneurs Need Both Facebook and LinkedIn

How to Use Facebook Status for Marketing Purposes Eye opening piece for people to understand the value of status updates on Facebook.

Social Networks Find Ways to Monetize User Data

Top Ten Ways to Use Facebook to Promote Your Business for Free

Facebook, a Marketer’s Friend A great piece in the Wall Street Journal that follows a small business owner and using Facebook for business.

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Social networking for business is incredibly hot right now and I don’t think social media network marketing will slow down ANYTIME soon. One of the best places to social network right now is on Facebook and we recently featured, The Ten Social Media Marketing Laws of Facebook. Anyways…

This is an excerpt from a great article, 9 Rules of Facebook Promotion Every Small Business Should Know by Nick O’Neill at allfacebook.com that will give you some fantastic tips to implement into your business building activities starting today:

“You’re the owner of a local small business and you are trying to figure out the best steps to get on to Facebook to drive new customers. It can be a daunting task and with little extra time in the day, how can you be expected to spend time promoting your business on Facebook? I completely understand the challenges of running a small business and after speaking with lawyers, florists, dentists, and many other small businesses, I’ve compiled the following list of strategies that should help ease the process.

1. Go Slow And Steady, Don’t Overdo It

Any form of promotion is like compound interest. It takes time to build up the residual returns but if you stick with it, the pay off can be substantial. Many people hear that Facebook is a great way to promote their business but after trying it out for a few days or even a couple weeks, they don’t see significant effects so they give up and decide to keep paying for Yellow page advertisements. Who knows how well Yellow Page ads pay off but that monthly check must be going towards something, right?

The difference between Facebook and more traditional promotional channels is that the small business owner needs to invest a little bit of their time. The extra effort can go a long way and can even provide a rewarding experience as customers begin to provide feedback and communicate directly with you. So how much time do you need to be spending? Not hours a day! While promoting via Facebook can become an addictive process, you can allocate little more than an hour a week to your promotional activities.

While it’s never bad to start off enthusiastically, you don’t want to waste all of your efforts in the first few days. Build up your fan base steadily and you’ll begin to see the benefits. ” Read the 8 other rules here: The 9 Rules of Facebook Promotion Every Small Business Should Know.

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We all have time constraints when it comes to social media and social networking for your business. Jobs, family, children, sleep…we all have the same 24 hours a day to live. Plus you’ve gotta factor in the eternal potential of different rabbit holes of distraction and information. LOL The difference is what do we do with those 24 hours. Today’s topic from Doug Firebaugh gets you focused in your social media networking.

Social Media Marketing Success – Three Steps on How to Maximize Your Efforts

Social Media.

Social Media Marketing.

THOSE 2 things has been written and talked about the last 2 years a LOT. But believe it or not, not a lot of small businesses or home businesses are using this powerful business and marketing “Zone” yet. Many people, because it is on the internet, shy away for it as if it were the plague.

“I am not a geek” people tell me. Well, we have “ungeeked the geek” for many small and home business owners, and made social media make sense to them But there are exceptions.

I was talking with a business owner the other day and she made the comment, “I don’t go to those kind of sites. I don’t have time to do that as my business is struggling and I need to go and find more customers.”

That says it all.

That shows a total lack of understanding of what social media/web 2.0 is really about, and what it can do for the average small business and home business -even on a local basis. If people really “got it” about social media marketing, they would be running to the social media zone and staying there.

There is a lot of talk that it is not “proven” as it is too new and the jury is still out on it being a viable marketing process.

I totally disagree. The social media marketer is paving a path for those to follow through a jungle that has never been explored, nor walked. People like proof. People like results. But it is the social media marketer that will create the way that will birth new millionaires with business folks who do “get” the Web 2.0 world. It is not that hard to understand either.

If you can send an email, you can “do” social media marketing. You can master Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, blogs, wikis, podcasts, article marketing, and all the other parts of the new media, if you can send an email. Yes, there is a learning curve, and yes, it does take a little effort-but what doesn’t? We have expanded our business tremendously with social media tactics, and everyday, we wake up with dozens of new leads for our training and consulting business in our email box. How would you like to have that happen to you?

You can. You can tap into an endless pool of leads that will just keep increasing, if you decide to jump into the Social Media zone. And we will be glad to teach you how to maximize for maximum Success with your Social Media efforts.

All you need to do is make a decision that you will take the time and study and learn social media a little at a time, and learn the culture, and the processes of each website.

Here are 7 websites that you must register with to get started in social media if you have a small or home business. Each have “help” tutorials or videos about how to use them properly, and also there is a LOT of information on the web as well on “how to”:

1) http://www.facebook.com

2) http://www.twitter.com

3) http://www.mashable.com (A GREAT website for learning generic social media.)

4) http://www.stumbleupon.com

5) http://www.digg.com

6) http://www.youtube.com

7) http://www.socialmediatrainingnetwork.com (A GREAT social website for learning social media tactics for small and or home businesses.)

And then do three things after learning how the site works:

1) CONNECT.
2) COMFORTABLE.
3) CONSTRUCT.

1) CONNECT.

The main thing you need to do is connect with people on these sites, and become a friend with them. Most of these sites have a process to befriend folks. Follow their process. Sound easy enough? But there is a type of friend that we teach that you must become. An “Addition Friend.” This is simply a friend that ADDS to people’s lives, not takes.

On the social media scene, most people are looking to Add, Enhance, Increase, and Enlarge a part of their life. YOU must help them do that with connecting with them and showing them new information about what you do, and how what you do can help them and change them for the better. It MUST not ever be a sales pitch, but simply information that will impact them enough that they may want to connect with you further about that in their life.

If you are a real estate agent, give them info on the 5 Biggest mistakes made while buying a home. If you are a CPA, give them some info on the 3 biggest mistakes made on tax returns. If you are in skin care, give them the 7 best ways to keep your skin healthy. You get the idea. You can find this type of information all over the web. Just send them the web address (url) to the article or blog post with a short note saying you thought of them when you ran across this.

We call it “Connection Marketing” and it WORKS when you allow it to.

CONNECT with the person –> CONNECT with their goals –> then CONNECT them to valuable information that will help them achieve them. Then most of the people Will then connect with your interests and be willing to help you with yours.

2) COMFORTABLE.

You must get the people on the social media sites COMFORTABLE with you.

How?

Talk about them, and how you can help them reach their goals and dreams- either with what you do, or with what you know. We call it “Comfortable Conversation(TM).” You must hold online “conversations” with people and get them comfortable with you, and comfortable with staying connected with you. You do this by talking about what THEY are interested in, and then you PROVE to them you are serious about adding value to their life.

It is ALL about VALUE in the social media arena. People expect value in your messages and communication, and if you give them things that will help them in their endeavors, (blog posts on their industry, articles on doing what they do better, etc,) they will get very comfortable with you, and even helping you with YOUR endeavors. They will be moving towards you quickly if you practice that focus in your social media efforts.

3) CONSTRUCT.

Simply, in Social media Marketing, you must Construct a bridge between you and the person that eventually leads OFFLINE and onto the telephone!

THAT is the secret to Success in social media marketing. We call it the “TIO Factor.” Take It Offline and let the personalization begin.

You have connected with the person- in person-at least in voice.

You have gotten them comfortable with you by your interest in helping them achieve their goals.

Now you must construct a path that allows you to say, “What is your contact number? I would love to chat with you for real over the phone.”

Then just do that. It may take a few days or a couple of weeks. But if you could pick up 10 new customers with this conversation would it be worth it?

Of course it would be. And how would you do that?

Ahhh–That is another article on Social Media Marketing Success.

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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EVERYONE has been talking about needing more money, the recession, getting laid off, hearing about more layoffs, the mortgage crisis and it just continues. My wife was even the casualty of being laid off. Several million people and counting have been DEEPLY impacted by what they call an economic crisis that is worse than the Great Depression!

The financial crisis, the economic condition are making the headlines by the moment it seems…

Layoffs Spread to More Sectors of the Economy
Layoffs can cause family stress
Recession Can Change a Way of Life
US says recession is worst in 26 years

BUT…Today’s blog topic shows you the positive benefits of this economic period of time for those who are sick of being at the financial will of someone’s bottom line and those who are entrepreneurial minded and work at home moms:

The 4 Biggest Reasons Why Your Home Business is Getting Ready to Explode

The Home Business Marketplace is looking better everyday- regardless of the talk about Recession.

Recession has always worked well for home businesses and always will. NOW with the high price of Gas skyrocketing, you have 4 reasons why your business is getting ready to be like a bottle rocket on the 4th of July.

Many people have complained openly that their business is slowing down. No-it is not. YOU are slowing down and it is wreaking havoc on your business. But with these 4 reasons, you can motivate and empower your team to go out and truly build the business they desire- with the understanding that it is working in their favor.

Ok- what are these 4 reasons?

1) People are starting to look for more income.

If you look around and ask people, 99% will tell you that they are going to need more money because of the price of gas and everything else increasing in price because of it. The world has not seen this scenario before, and it is going to get a whole lot more serious.

“Ask, “Are you planning on getting a second job, starting a business, or what — to battle this increase in gas?”

Then LISTEN.

2) People are talking RECESSION.

Recession (if there really is one) has always been a great thing for home business recruiting. It seems to work highly in the favor of the network marketing home business industry. But here is a revelation:

You can REFUSE to participate in the recession if you choose.

“I have decided that I am not participating in this recession – if there really is one. I am going to work my business and find people that want more income too and choose NOT to join this business slow down. How about you? What are your plans?”

3) The Media.

The media is scaring people into thinking about doing something more to bring in income. And it is working. There are reports of some network marketing distributors taking advantage of what the media is saying and using it to their advantage.

Get a copy of a Newsweek or business magazine and find some articles on slow down in business. Then find an article on the price of gas. Then include it in your presentation. You will be soooo glad you did.

4) Companies are cutting back and laying off.

All you have to do is take a look at any report in the Wall Street Journal and you will find what I am talking about. It is not a pretty picture in some industries.

Talk to people about a “recession proof- lay off proof- and boss proof” part time career and show them
how that works. You will be glad you did and so will they.

“Let me show you how some people are fighting the cut offs and lay offs with working from their home. It is amazing the results they are seeing…”

It is an exciting year. And it will be a GREAT year for those who GET IT.

And a not so good year for those who don’t.

I pray that you do in your MLM and Network Marketing home business.

blessings…Doug Firebaugh
PassionFire Training
Follow Doug on Twitter

Editor’s note: this post was written by Doug Firebaugh of PassionFire International. If you’re passionate about social media, social media marketing and social networking lifestyle design, contact me about writing an article yourself.

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Welcome to the New Media Marketplace with the BLOG i360 system!

Ready To Unleash The Power Of Blogs in Your Business?

It’s been simmering below the surface for years and now this power shift has finally boiled over into simultaneous national recognition.

Like Goliath being slain with a lowly slingshot, the mainstream media (in the form of Dan Rather) came to the undeniable realization that they were no longer in control of information.

Within 30-minutes of that now infamous TV special on “60-Minutes II” broadcast bloggers were digging into the facts and questioning the validity of what had just been presented by the 42-year broadcast veteran. In less than one week, CBS admitted it could “no longer vouch” for the memos. And just weeks after the election, Rather announced his retirement and the blogosphere won another victory.

No matter what your political affiliation is, this incident is one very public example of the power of blogging. Blogging is quickly accelerating into a steeping, sloping growth curve of popularity and application. ABC News selected Bloggers as “People of the Year”, and Merriam-Webster declared “blog” its “word of the year.”

Putting the power of blogs to work for your business can have more an impact than you can imagine…and it’s easier than you might think.

It puts the power of information and the impact of influence in the hands of the “average Joe”. It makes instant publishing a reality regardless of your technical skill level. And it’s a business growth tool that the savvy small business owner can no longer afford to ignore.

The world’s oldest, most effective form of communication and marketing on steroids!

So why is blogging gaining popularity so quickly?  What’s the attraction?  And why is it so darn powerful?

The answer is quite simple when you consider history and human nature.

Blogging is an unstoppable technological force that exponentially multiplies the world’s oldest, most favorite, and most trusted form of information sharing — word of mouth.

Think about it.  Who do you trust the most to give you advice, recommendations, and information about opportunities, purchases, or choices?

If you’re like the vast majority of people, it’s the opinion of someone you know and trust. Someone who you feel is just like you. That type of trust comes from personal communication, social interaction, and the joining together of like-minded individuals.

Blogs and the blogging community deliver all that — and more.

Now is the time to master business blogging and put it to use for you! Do it before other proactive business owners step into your ideal niche and muscle you out of this primetime opportunity.

You can learn more about blogs and business blogging in particular at Blogi360

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