Munir Ahmad Blog

Facebook is a popular online social networking site that adds a quarter million new users every day and currently has over 120 million active users. If you think your target audience isn’t on Facebook, you might be surprised to learn the fastest growing demographic is the 25 and older group.

If you’re not comfortable or familiar with social media, you should think of it as a new take on the networking event, except with less pressure to make small talk and no shrimp cocktail boat.

By investing some time and energy into Facebook you can build brand loyalty, establish your expertise, engage your customers on a deeper level, and drive qualified leads back to your Web site.

Step 1: Create Your Profile

Facebook is about personal relationships; the coin of the realm is “friends.” While people may want to be friends with you, chances are they aren’t looking to be friends with your company. Did you ever have a heart-to-heart with Nike, or go to the movies with General Motors?

In fact, creating a profile for your business breaks Facebook’s terms and conditions. Therefore, you need to start by creating a personal profile using your real name.

To build your profile upload a photo, enter your education, business and contact info, and join your local network (i.e., Lisbon, Portugal).

The more complete your profile, the more easily you can connect with other people. If you’re concerned about privacy, Facebook offers highly customizable privacy settings that control who can see different elements of your profile. This way you can share photos of your kids with friends and family, but not with your boss or customers.

Next you can upload your contact database to see which of your contacts are already on Facebook, and ask to “friend” any of them you wish. This gives you a good starting point on Facebook, rather than starting cold.

Step 2: Create Your Company Page

Once you have a personal profile, you can create a page for your business. Pages can be populated with company information, photos, video, upcoming events, discussion forums and links back to your Web site.

You can also add additional applications to increase the functionality of your page, such as an RSS feed from your blog or embedded videos from YouTube. Pages are made publicly available so search engines can find and index them, which is an added benefit.

People on Facebook can become “fans” of your company, which is a great way for you to stay in touch with them and share information and advice. Think of gaining Facebook “friends” or business “fans” in the same way you think of increasing your email subscriber base: they build your network.

You can promote your company page via email, your blog, and through the Facebook network to drive more traffic and build up your fan base.

If you’re wondering why you need a Facebook page since you already have a Web site (and maybe a blog,) it’s about being where your customers are…location, location, location.

Step 3: Join and Create Groups

Another way to network on Facebook is through the use of groups. Groups, unlike pages, are only visible to Facebook members. Groups can be formed around anything from sustainable business practices to political affiliations to love of a particular video game or breed of dog.

Chances are your prospects already participate in these groups; if not, create a new group and invite some friends and fans to get the ball rolling. An assisted living resident might create a “sandwich generation” group; a business coach might create a personal power group.

Once nice benefit of groups is that you can “bulk invite” people to join (who are connected to you on Facebook), and they can then “bulk invite” their friends as well. This means your group can go viral quickly, and so groups are great ways of promoting a movement.

Words of Caution (or Don’t Be “That Guy”)

You know those people who go to networking events and try to sell you long before they learn anything about your needs?  It’s easy in real life to see how obnoxious that behavior is, right?

Well, then don’t behave that way on Facebook. (Or on any social media site, for that matter.) Anyone jumping into social media as a way to make a quick sale will be sorely disappointed, and may irrevocably damage their reputation.

Social media is about building relationships; you build your network and your reputation over time by providing value to other people. The best book ever written on social media marketing could well be How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

“You need to focus on building rapport, reaching out to connect with others, adding value, sharing information relative to your niche and marketplace.”

In Conclusion

Facebook is a powerful networking tool that connects you with your prospects and customers in new and engaging ways. There are conversations, events, and networking opportunities that are only happening there; if you’re not on Facebook, you’re missing these opportunities.

Every small business owner and entrepreneur should invest some time to determine how Facebook fits in with the rest of his or her marketing efforts.

This is the teaser for the MEA-I’s upcoming Blossom games, a series of Serious Game intended for learning how IT technology can help you in your everyday’s life. Target audience is would-be as well as existing microentrepreneurs.

http://www.mea-i.org

http://www.get-it-city.net

http://www.knowledge-city.net

Are you a business owner trying to figure out the whole blogging thing? Have you been wondering if it’s worth your time and effort to create a blog for your own business? By the end of this article, you’ll understand the many benefits and will be better able to decide if blogging is right for you.

Let’s start with a quick definition, just so we are all on the same page. A blog is simply a content-management system that allows you to publish information onto the Internet, quickly and easily. New information is typically added in reverse-chronological format, so that the most recent posts are always up top. The blogging program does most of the technical stuff for you.

10 Reasons to Start Blogging for Your Business

That’s about as far as I’ll go into the technical definition. You’ll learn more about the inner workings if and when you decide to start a blog for your business. This purpose of this article is to give you some good reasons to make that decision. So without further ado…

1. Easy Publishing Tool

Type your post for the day. Add some hyperlinks or images with the click of your mouse. Hit the “publish” button. You’ve just updated your blog with new information, and it’s live on the Internet. Once you install the program, it really is this easy to use.

2. Search Engine Visibility

Starting a blog will not magically propel you to the top of the search engine ranks, as many people seem to believe. But with that being said, a blog has certain benefits that help with search rankings. It’s easy to publish new content for one thing, and this is key to online visibility. Also, blogs are text-rich and cleanly coded right “out of the box,” so the search engines have an easy time crawling through them and finding new information.

3. Expertise / Authority

If you as the business owner can demonstrate your expertise within your industry, people will be more inclined to purchase your products or services. By publishing quality information on a regular basis, you can more easily establish such authority. In other words, you can use blogging to position yourself as a “thought leader” in your industry.

4. Makes Your Website Sticky

Who wants to revisit a website that never updates its content? Not me. This is another area where a business blog can benefit you. If you have a wealth of useful content on your website, and that content gets updated regularly, your visitors will stick around longer. This increases the chance they will contact you, purchase from you, subscribe to your newsletter, etc.

5. Potential for Conversation

Most blogging programs come with a comment feature built in. At the bottom of each post, readers can leave comments in a box provided for that purpose. So instead of the one-way communication of a traditional website (where I talk and you listen), you now have a two-way conversation taking place. You can probably see the business-building potential of this.

6. Potential for Leads

Can you generate leads and inquiries through a blog? Sure you can. We just talked about the two-way conversations that often takes place. When people fill out that comment form, they usually include their email address. There’s a lead source right there. People will also feel like they know you after reading your blog for a while, so they’ll be more inclined to contact you directly.

7. Return Visits

Blogging programs make it easy for people to stay in touch. For example, your visitors / readers can simply subscribe to your blog’s syndication feed to receive future updates automatically. There are also programs available that can convert your posts into an email newsletter format. That way, people can sign up to receive future posts just like signing up for any other e-newsletter. It’s a handy tool that can keep people coming back over and over again.

8. Versatility / Multipurpose

I already mentioned how you can use a certain type of “plugin” to allow readers to subscribe. In reality, there is a mind-boggling array of plugins available that can do all sorts of neat things. How you use your business blog is limited only by your imagination. Use it as a news add-on to your existing website, or use it as a full-featured website with pages in addition to posts.

9. Encourages Trust

Let’s face it. Consumers naturally distrust unfamiliar companies. And who can blame them? People hear the word “corporate” and think of Enron-like characters plotting schemes that screw the little guy while lining their own pockets. It’s a harsh reality, but a reality nonetheless.

How does a blog fit into this? Well, it makes you seem like a person instead of a company, for one thing. It shows you’re not afraid to step into the spotlight and speak with people about your business and your products. This is one of the reasons people like Bill Marriott (of the hotel chain) have started blogs in recent years.

10. Dare I Say Fun?

Do you enjoy sharing information about topics you know well? Do you like to write? Are you interested in web technologies and seeing your words published live on the Internet? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, there’s a good chance you will truly enjoy blogging. Who knows … you may even become addicted.

Source : Bandon Cornett ( http://ezinearticles.com/?id=1376600 )

1.What is it?

Ning is an online service that allows users to create their own so­cial networks and join and participate in other networks. Ning lets creators of networks determine the site’s appearance and func­tionality, as well as whether the site is public or private.

Most net­works include features such as photos or videos, lists of network members and events, groups within the network, and communi­cation tools such as forums or blogs. No technical skill is required to set up a social network, and there are no limits to the number of networks a user can join.

Ning offers no-cost networks, which are supported by advertisements, or users can pay for premium services that eliminate ads and let users choose network URLs that are separate from the Ning domain.

2. Who’s doing it?

Although Ning does not provide usage statistics or numbers of registered users, the company does highlight the number of net­works on its platform.

As of April 2008, Ning reported 220,000 networks, 70 percent of which were active within the past 30 days. Looking at the tag cloud and browsing the available networks, one sees that networks focus on a broad range of topics and are used for activities ranging from news, current events, and profes­sional development to entertainment, dating, and support groups. Some networks are regional or municipal in their focus.

Some organizations use Ning to develop a social network that comple­ments their primary website, and others have turned to Ning as the platform for the organization’s only website.

Some networks focus on particular commercial products, and in some of these cases, product representatives are active members of the network, which becomes a vehicle for “social advertising.”

Another clear trend is that many alumni groups, formal and informal, from high schools as well as colleges and universities, use Ning to develop networks where graduates can reconnect and stay in touch.

3. How does it work?

Registered users can create new social networks in very little time, with no technical skill required. Once a name and a URL are selected, assembling the network is a simple process of working through four screens.

The user indicates whether the network is private (only invited people can view or join) or public; writes a tag-line and description of the network; assigns keywords; chooses from a selection of features (such as photos or videos, a blog, events, groups, or gadgets) and uses drag-and-drop tools to place those features on the page; chooses a visual theme (colors, fonts, sizes) and can customize these choices; and decides what information users will be asked to provide to join the network. If membership is restricted, the creator can invite individuals to join.

The creator of the network has access to other options, such as importing photos from Flickr, adding Ning features to Face­book pages, requesting access to source code to further cus­tomize a network, and including JavaScript that allows external tools to track network usage statistics.

Members of the Ning so­cial networks find functionality similar to that of more well-known stand-alone networks, such as Facebook and MySpace. Various features allow users to read news or learn about related events, join groups, read and comment on blog entries, view photos and videos, and other activities as set up by the network creator. RSS feeds let users subscribe to updates from specific parts of the social network.

4. Why is it significant?

Facebook and MySpace are consistently among the most popular sites on the web, demonstrating the public’s interest in social net­working. Other online tools are also adding social networking fea­tures, allowing users to connect and build community.

Web users are constantly pushing the limits of available tools, looking for novel and interesting ways to use technology to discover connections between people and content and to find new answers to old ques­tions.

With Ning, users have the freedom to channel this creative energy into designing and building a social network that looks and behaves exactly as its creator believes it should.

Moreover, to the extent that network creators have the technical ability to do so, they can create entirely new tools and features to respond to the changing needs and demands of the network members.

5. What are the downsides?

The flipside of the flexibility of social networks is that the norms and expectations for how such tools should work continue to evolve. Putting almost total control into the hands of users en­courages experimentation and innovation, but such a dynamic landscape leaves most social networks in a near-constant state of change, with no clear model of organization and function that will best suit a particular community.

Ning touts the ability for users to join many different social networks, which, despite its obvious benefits, also adds to the growing burden of managing involvement in multiple personal networks and keeping track of perhaps dozens or hundreds of “friends” across networks. The growth of separate online communities has led some to call for an independent database that would allow users to manage their relationships and identities across a wide range of services, and Ning would seem to be a good candidate for such a tool.

Finally, because Ning hosts all of the content for the networks on its platform, some organizations will be reluctant to use the service for important or sensitive material.

6. Where is it going?

The Internet community at large has consistently demonstrated its desire for social and community-based applications. Wheth­er through virtual worlds, rich-media tools, or always-on access through mobile devices, users increasingly turn to digital tools for a sense of connection with other people.

Ning lets users experiment with online behavior and community tools, and through this pro­cess, “best practices” for social networking will emerge and rise to the top, resulting in a stronger sense of what functions technol­ogy can most appropriately serve.

Successive networks build on previous ones, and users will become increasingly sophisticated and discerning in their use of social networks generally and of in­dividual tools in particular.

7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?

For today’s students, who spend countless hours on Facebook and MySpace, faculty participation on those networks is often seen as an intrusion into a private domain.

Ning provides an ave­nue for instructors to take advantage of social networks in a neutral setting, offering functionality and an experience that are familiar and comfortable to students.

By creating social networks around academic topics, or even about specific projects for a course, an instructor can facilitate a strong sense of community among the students, encouraging personal interactions that can lead to the creation of new knowledge and collective intelligence. Simi­larly, discipline-specific social networks connect researchers from around the world working on particular topics of study.

Colleges and universities can also use Ning to create networks that help current or incoming students build connections with the institution. Ning provides an opportunity for students to create their own social networks and learn how to cultivate and sustain a community of users that might resemble professional contacts and relationships.

A social network on Ning is also an easy way for a group of students-from an entering class, for example, or those who participated in a semester-abroad program-to stay connected through the col­lege years and beyond, even as they transfer to other institutions, graduate, or relocate.

If you are interested in setting up your own NING Social Network follow go to www.ning.com