An Introduction To The Video Chat Service, Hangouts, For Business

There are some tremendous tools and differences versus Facebook for business that you need to know!

This Google+ Training Webinar is exciting on a number of levels. What the Hangouts video chat service can do for your business is to bring you closer together with your prospects, team, partners and clients. It is like having the ability to have a face-to-face meeting without being there in person.

This means that all the ways that you passionately train, sell or promote to your business audiences can have all the added benefits of sight, sound and motion. In other words, you can sell with passion and emotion! This is really huge. Relationships get formed easier, reading the group’s reactions get easier, and closing the sale or creating effective training gets easier too.

There are still some observations that we have that keep it from being the best thing since sliced bread, but it is well on it’s way. And the business tools that they have provided, make it so much more powerful than anything offered by Facebook! They offer a load of what they call “extras” that we review from screen sharing, notes, sketchpad, on air, named hangouts and more. Watch the webinar and get all the latest updates!

What you will learn:

• What Are Hangouts?
• How to Start A Hangout?
• Conducting A Hangout
• The Top Ten Business Benefits
• The Top Features We Wish They Had For Business
• Observations

This webinar is 34 minutes long and provides an in-depth view of Google+ Hangouts that takes you through everything you need to know to start using this tool for your business!

Watch the webinar now by clicking on the video player below! It may take 30 seconds to a minute to begin playing.

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Getting Started With Twitter For Your Small Business…As A Solo Entrepreneur

This is the Twitter Training that answers all you questions. Want to know how Twitter should fit into your total social media marketing campaign? What the Top 5 most strategic uses are for Twitter and your business?  How to make sense of all the jargon and third party tools?  How to build a strategic follower base?  How to get started right?  Well, then this is the webinar on Twitter for you!

VIEW THE WEBINAR NOW!

What You Will Learn

• What is the role of Twitter for business?
• The Top 5 Strategic uses of Twitter
• Getting Started in less than 10 minutes
• Understanding the language of Twitter
• Getting followers, strategically
• How to start prospecting, creatively?
• How to tweet for business?

If you are feeling overwhelmed by all there is to do to be successful with social media for your business, then this is the webinar that can really help. Prospecting is a lifeline into your business. And Twitter is the most simple and powerful way to get started with a serious lead generation program that can happen seconds after opening your Twitter account. You don’t need thousands of followers, or a huge social media presence! All you need to know is your brand, your target market and how to use Twitter for prospecting!

It is the easiest way to get started because of it’s simplicity. It is also one of the most powerful prospecting tools because of its incredible advanced search capabilities. No other social network comes close to Twitter for being able to pinpoint your target market!

If you are serious about growing your business, whether you are an advanced or beginner user of social media marketing, this webinar makes it very clear what you need to do to be successful with Twitter! The more you learn about Twitter the more that you’ll like.

Please click through to view the entire Twitter Training curriculumn. You won’t want to miss the opportunity to dive in and learn more about third party tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck.

How Any Small Business Entrepreneur Can Get Started Right In The World Of Social Media Marketing

August 25th from 4-5p PST

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What You Will Learn From This Social Media Training 101 Webinar

• What should my expectations be to create a successful social media campaign for my business?
• What are the elements that I would need to create?
• What is the priority order?
• How do I create success with limited time?
• What are the few things that will make the biggest difference?
• Success stories?
• Why you can do it, with nothing more than a computer and a good connection to the internet!
• How to do it all, for very, very little out-of-pocket costs!
  

One of the most daunting tasks for most small business entrepreneurs is simply knowing where to start! If this is your situation, or you are already well under way, but don’t feel like you have a game plan…then this is the webinar for you!

This is the webinar where it all comes into one clear picture. And we guarantee that this webinar will include things that you have never hear of before. We don’t stop with the popular social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, we dig deeper for things you just can’t miss in your road to success.

You are not going to want to miss out on this webinar!

How To Create And Customize Your Facebook Personal Profile (for business)

The Top 5 Reasons You Need A Facebook Personal Profile As A Solo Entrepreneur!

Any Facebook Training curriculum needs to start with creating a Facebook Personal Profile. Why?

First, a personal profile is your entry into everything Facebook from profiles to business pages, groups, Facebook Connect services, chat, etc.

Secondly, it is one of the best business prospecting tools online, period! With way over half the resident population of this country on Facebook (over 700 million users worldwide), you can find any prospect niche you can imagine on Facebook.

Third, you have an incredible suite of messaging opportunities that are centrally organized for your personal and business convenience. No matter how you communicate (messages, friend requests, chat, etc.) on Facebook, it is all conveniently collected and represented with a full history for your review. This is really important as you start prospecting with a large number of people and need to refresh yourself on the back correspondence you have already had!

Fourth, it is a fantastic way to showcase you and your business! And since you are your business as a solo entrepreneur, then this is extremely important. From your profile information, profile visuals, photos, videos, status updates and more, your Facebook personal profile is an extremely important representation of your and your business brand for all to see.

Fifth, Facebook personal profiles and business pages ultimately become one of the most efficient ways to not only reach out to prospects, but current customers and clients. It is important to have stay-in-touch programs with those that you have already brought into your business, and Facebook can be one of the most effective ways to do that with little time and effort.

The bottom line is that you need a Facebook personal profile to tie into your business, and this webinar will teach you everything that you need to know!

Click here for more Facebook Training resources.

A First Look At An All-New Social Network

July 21st from 4-5p PST

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What You Will Learn From This Google+ Training

• Why this could be the competition for Facebook we all needed
  
• How is this new social network unique, better or worse that Facebook?
• Why are many experts calling it a blend of both Twitter & Facebook?
  
• How does Google+ help you socialize with people that aren’t even in the network?
  
• What are HANGOUTS?
  
• What are SPARKS?
  
• What are CIRCLES?
• What does it mean that Google+ is still in Beta?
• And more!
  

This webinar will get you up to speed and in the know on Google+. Competition in the social networking world is always going to be good for us as it stimulates innovation and accelerated change!

You are not going to want to miss out on this webinar!

Does My Small Business Need A Facebook Like Page? And When Should I Open One?

One of the most common Facebook Training questions that we get is around why and when to open a business page on Facebook. There seems to be almost a gold rush mentality around the need to have a Facebook page. But there are a number of really important factors that need to be considered first.

Time is a huge factor. Do you have enough time as a solo, small business entrepreneur to dedicate to making your new business page into a vibrant destination site that will engage new visitors on a regular basis. Do you have the time to create a page that constantly adds value, creates interaction and accelerates new visitors into a deeper relationship with your business? These questions could be the very same ones asked about the blog for your business. And we know that your blog is the very hub of your online, social media activity.

So you have to ask yourself the question of whether or not you have the time to make that kind of commitment. If you move forward and only give a portion of the effort required, it will backfire! You will have created a lifeless, inactive page that shouts out to everyone who visits that there is nothing of real value there. You will have created the exact opposite experience that you were intending for your brand!

Do you have a plan for creating ongoing engagements and value? It’s not enough to just say you want a business page on Facebook and just go right ahead and open it. You need to have a plan for how you are going to create a regular drum beat of activity that engages and involves your visitors. If you have not considered this plan before creating your like page then you have probably not had great success with it over any length of time. Really think through what it will take to create ongoing value without having to recreate the wheel each week or suck up all of your time! Feel free to check out the Practical Social Media University’s Facebook Page as one example of how a vibrant community around a business can be created.

Why do I need a Facebook Like Page? One of the biggest benefits of Facebook is that interactions (comments, likes, tags, photos, videos, etc.) can all become “stories” that make it into the newsfeeds of those that like your page. That means that their friends have the opportunity to see them interacting with your brand on your like page. And there is no limit to how many people can like your page. So as long as you have a growing, vibrant, engaging experience happening on your like page, it will constantly be working to make your business more and more viral on Facebook. The more interactions on your Facebook page, the more stories get entered into the newsfeeds, that stay up longer and generate more exposure for your business.

Does it meet your near term goals? Most solo entrepreneurs that I talk to want and need more customers and clients now. The best way to get immediate results on Facebook is to simply dive in and start targeting and prospecting. In order for business pages to really start producing new leads, they need to have a lot of love and attention put there way.

Another consideration is that Facebook pages don’t allow you to message one on one, that is only a feature of your personal profile. Facebook page messaging doesn’t even go into the regular, most noticed part of people’s message inbox! So Facebook pages are really intended for creating mass engagement strategies off the page itself! Thus, they are a slower process to creating a return on your time invested because the real value comes from creating an all-new community around your business.

When should I open a Facebook Page? When you already have a good following for your business online. When you can announce the new page and assure that you’ll be able to start out with a large enough community to create a foundation for good, sustained interactions. The best plans for a like page won’t make any difference unless there is that community of people using it!

Conclusion: Facebook pages are a tremendous opportunity to go viral on Facebook while creating a community that naturally attracts your existing customers at the same time. That mix of satisfied customers and new prospects can be a tremendous benefit for your business! You should have it in your expectations that long term, one of the most significant reasons why you create a Facebook page is because of the value of interacting and creating a community for existing customers and clients. Not only are they a vitally important source for future earning potential, but the best advocates for your business if you keep in touch and keep them happy.

Just make sure that before you start that you have the time, the plan and the community in place to make the most out of your new business page on Facebook.

We also have a full member’s webinar dedicated to this subject, entitled, “The Marketing Role Of A Facebook Personal Profile vs. A Business Page.“

Click through for a full list of Facebook Training resources within the University’s curriculum.

The Marketing Role of a Personal Profile versus a Business Page

Facebook is one of the top categories of questions that we get at the University. This Facebook Training webinar is designed to answer all these questions. Should I open a Facebook page? Do I keep my personal profile too? How do they work together? What’s the best way to start for my business?

The roles are not intuitive for sure. In this webinar we combine the input of Facebook, our recommendations and the real-world views of University members to create a complete picture for you. You will not leave this webinar without a clear understanding of how to get started and succeed with a Facebook marketing strategy for your business.

We detail out specific recommendations, provide examples and show you how they work together to create a tremendously powerful and viral opportunity for your business…all for free on Facebook.

The total length of the Webinar is about 45 minutes. You may have to wait 30 seconds to a minute for the video to start playing. Also, many members are finding it very advantageous to watch the Webinar all the way through and then keep it open in a separate window to review while executing the recommendations.

To watch the Facebook Training Webinar, just click on the play button below.

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Using YouTube, The Second Largest Search Engine In the World, For Business

Most of us don’t think about YouTube as one of the top four social media marketing tools, right up there with blogging, Facebook and Twitter. This YouTube Training webinar will change that misconception!

The benefits span the range from greater exposure for your business on both YouTube and Google, to impacting the conversion rates at which you close new prospects. And the best part is that it is easy to use, easy to create videos, easy to edit and thus easy to get started.

In the webinar, we will show you specific examples and case studies of how all these benefits and more can become a reality for your business. And the best part, they have incredible staying power. Google loves YouTube video, and it is not uncommon that you will see videos from years ago still in the search rankings.

It’s time to get started on your YouTube Training by clicking through and WATCHING THE WEBINAR!

Click here for other YouTube Training resources.

More On WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org From A Real Life Experience Of A University Member

We recently wrote a Social Media Training blog post about why to always choose WordPress.org versus WordPress.com. Some of the most important points were the lack of control, lack of ownership of content and inability to get into the search engine rankings.

One of our Practical Social Media University members ran into the “control” issue head on after spending more than two years developing his blog. Please read the message below he just received from WordPress.com:

This blog has been deactivated because we believe it does not comply with the WordPress.com Terms of Service or advertising policy. If your blog is designed to promote affiliate links, get rich quick programs, banner ads, consists solely or mostly of duplicate or automatically generated material, or is part of a search engine marketing campaign, WordPress.com is not the place for you. Please use the Export feature to move your content to a more appropriate hosting service. Occasionally we make mistakes. If you believe we have misclassified your blog, please click here to contact us as soon as possible so we can fix the problem.

You don’t want this to happen to you!

This is exactly why staying with the .com version of WordPress is not a good idea. You have no control over your blog…they do! And remember that your blog is the hub of your social media activity! You can’t afford to not be in control of such a critical success factor for your business.

We think it is interesting that WordPress.com spells out all the things you can’t do, of which some are very legitimate…like a search engine marketing campaign. That is what blogging for business is all about. This is once again why we maintain the need for moving over to the WordPress.org version. When was the last time that you ever saw a .com version of a WordPress blog come up in the search engine rankings?

If you started on the .com version, then we recommend that you make the move to the .org version of WordPress as soon as you can. Exporting your data base of posts can be tricky, so we also recommend signing up with a hosting company that will help you do just that. Bluehost.com is my favorite. Thanks for sharing and I hope this helps!

Click here for more Blog Training topics.

Click here for more Social Media Training Tips.

All You Need To Know About Twitter For Business…That Only The Experts Know

In this Twitter Training Webinar you will find out how to meet high quality business prospects that you most likely never would have met before, and be a much more efficient Twitter marketer along the way. Don’t expect the basics in this webinar, expect the straight forward, expert advice that will help you take your Twitter marketing strategy to the next level.

VIEW WEBINAR NOW!

This is the one webinar on Twitter that you won’t want to miss! It doesn’t cover the basics, but the advanced strategies for how you go beyond the mechanics of working Twitter. It is how you use Twitter and the third party applications around it that make all the difference with your return on investment of time and energy spent! This webinar has been created to specifically address the expert strategies that are tailored for you as the solo entrepreneur.

Click through to find more Twitter Training Resources!