Archive for the ‘Linkedin’ Category

Online Marketing Blog: Financial Analysts CAN leverage Social Networks

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Financial advisors always tell me that social networking sites are not for them. They of course refer to the federal guidelines for financial planners that they have to abide by.

But given that social networks are so popular, is there no easy way for Financial Analysts to leverage them?

I think there is. I think that three simple strategies could allow Financial Analysts to leverage social networks without getting into trouble with the law.

Just throw your name in the hat – the hat in this case the social websites. Once you are online, let people get to know you as  a person without going into what you do and how. Connect with other financial advisors to see what they are doing online. And stay away from dicussing financial stuff online.

Post generic information on the social networks, news items, interesting happenings in your field and even outside your field. Don't make any individual recommendations of any sort and you'll be fine.

Combine your networking with your newsletter and email campaigns. Include your Twitter and FB links on all communication that you send out.

Lastly, be sure to comply with SEC and FINRA regulations. FINRA regulations differentiate between static and interactive content. Social networking content is interactive and therefore no prior approval is needed for them.

Also, FINRA and the SEC require that all tweets be archived or save. To do so, just copy and paste all your tweets in a pdf file every night or week and store these pdf's somewhere. No need to buy new software for this purpose.

Directives from the SEC and FINRA stipulate that all tweets must be archived and be able to be exported, in case regulatory bodies want to rifle through them. To do that, you can manually copy and paste the tweets into a PDF, like Jean Keener of Keener Financial Planning in Keller, Texas does, or like the people who operate the Raymond James' Twitterfeed do.

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Posted in facebook, Linkedin, Social Media Marketing, twitter | No Comments »

Online Marketing Blog: Using LinkedIn Effectively

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

LinkedIn is one of the most professional business networks you'll find online. It is older than Facebook and is made up of professionals located across the globe. Although it doesn't have as many users as Facebook, if you wish to build your professional network with contacts, LinkedIn is the best platform to do so.
 
LinkedIn's biggest advantage to you is showcasing your profile with as much detail as possible. Your profile should be an impressive presentation of you, your skills, and your achievements. A captivating profile is bound to attract others who may be looking to do business with you, looking for a job, or looking for a partner.

You should study other profiles in your field and outside your field to find ideas to make your profile more comprehensive and interesting. Also, it is well worth it to review corporate profiles and create one that showcases your company as the company to retain, work with, or buy should the interest be there. Include testimonials from clients (present and current), employees (present and current), and peers or colleagues who can tell others why you and your company are worth a second and third look.
 
Building your network on LinkedIn is easy. Start with the people  you already know. Offer your contacts to others and vice versa ask to connect with contacts of your contacts. But be careful and curb the overwhelming desire to add everyone you see and want to add. Also keep an eye on the LinkedIn database which provides suggestions about the people you might want to add depending on the interest fields you have filled out in your profile. Update your profile as often as you can, post your opinions, make use of the Answers section to answer other people's questions and post some of your own.

Include your website, blogs, and interests in your profile so people can see your professional background but also get to know a little bit about your personal likes and dislikes.

So don't let Facebook and Twitter be the only networks you play on. Take a second look at LinkedIn and make it work for you.

 

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Online Marketing Blog: Social Brandcasting for Business!

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

If I had a dime every time I heard "but I don't see how "Facebook" can help my business", I'd be a rich man! Yes, I know I've said this a guzzilian times but it's true.

Social networking is really nothing more than social brandcasting – meaning casting your brand out there in the social networks, period! So why are businesses not able to see the value of Brandcasting and leveraging the tools available to them to promote themselves?
 
Social Brandcasting benefits are quite simple:

  • You can reach more people through popular sites like Facebook & Twitter than through ANY chamber event you may attend
  • You can continuously promote your services and company events without spending a dime on print materials
  • You can go on a "ra ra" campaign in a non-obtrusive manner and no one will think twice about it online

You can do "horizontal" brandcasting which is to everyone and everywhere across the board, same message, same positioning. Then you can do the "vertical" brandcasting where you position different messages on different platforms.  By balancing quantity (number of followers, fans, connections) and quality (what you say, how you say, the personna you create of yourself or your company online, etc.) you get the biggest bang for your buck.

Capice? If not, call me and I'll be more than happy to discuss this at length cause this is what my company does day in and day out!

 

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Posted in facebook, Internet Marketing, Linkedin, Social Media Marketing, twitter | No Comments »

Social Media Marketing Blog: Try Atomkeep & Shareaholic

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Is your life seriously getting busy tweeting this, Facebooking that, blogging here, linking there? Well, besides the fact that we want you to call us so that we can streamline and create efficiency, here are two tools that I really liked on first and second look.
 
Content sharing is important right? I mean isn't that what we all do when we say, "Please RT" or "Hey friend "xyz", may I share your link with my friends?" But content sharing is a whole another job in itself because lets face it, there IS a lot of content to share with everyone. I know how many times a day I pass on emails to friends just cause I got something that I thought was absolutely hilarious or worthwhile sharing with my close friends. On Facebook and Twitter, you can pretty much end up spending four hours just reading, responding, and retweeting or sharing stuff that people have shared/posted.

So if you are into content sharing, check out www.shareaholic.com – their tagline being "The Better Way to Share Across Twitter, Facebook, E-mail, and More". Basically, using this browser plugin, you can share links, videos, blogs, and images with Facebook, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, Gmail, Yahoo, and more. Best part, no need to sign up for yet another new service.

And who doesn't face challenges remembering which email address was used on which site or what username was created for one site versus another? I mean you'd think by now, EVERYONE would have jumped on the bandwagon of "username = valid email address". Right? Wrong!!!! But I digress.

So if you want to sync and merge profile data from various networks like Twitter, Facebook, et. all, use www.atomkeep.com. However, atomkeep.com appears to be facing growing pains as it doesn't seem to be accepting new accounts quite as readily. Didn't ANYONE teach them that a new idea is only as good as the execution of it?  Sheesh!

But oh well, such is life in the fast lane on the super information highway. I'll be posting more tools that I've discovered or liked in the past few weeks of scouring the web so stay tuned…..

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Posted in facebook, Linkedin, Social Media Marketing, twitter | No Comments »

Social Media Marketing Blog: Three Great Ways to use Linkedin.com

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Linkedin is one of the top business networking sites and everyone who's anyone is on Linkedin.com. I found the following three great uses of linkedin:

Searching for contacts: I use linkedin more for research than any other function. Whether I'm seeking people who are seeking jobs, or whether I'm looking to connect with the head-honcho of a company; linkedin offers a tremendous value with its search functions.
 
Answers: The answers section is good if you want to begin creating some relationships with people who are actively networking on Linkedin. Every topic under the sun is available for discussion in the Linkedin Answers section. You can learn about pets, and business plans; mentoring and international laws; Writing and publishing; you get the point! When you respond to answers, you can post a link to your site and information about your company or business. Or you can post a question yourself and get live answers from the various people who have insight into the topic you posted a question in.

Job Search: There are lots of jobs posted on linkedin but the ones that I want to highlight are the jobs that are "exclusive" to linkedin. That means that you get access to a job posting that's not already made the rounds on craigslist, monster, and other job sites.

And you know what? These are all functions that are free to use. That's right, you don't have to sign up for any of their expensive subscription options. Free is good, right? Of all the sites out there, I would say that Linkedin is perhaps the BEST value and the Price is Right at "Free".

Posted in Linkedin, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »