Welcome to our social media resources pages. You can find a social media expert in the MARKETING section of 123outsource.net. A social media expert can help you create and build new social media networks which can result in better seach engine placement, new customers, and a new channel for customer feedback. There are many additional advantages to social media campaigns, but those are the critical ones.

What is social media?
Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Forums, Youtube, Myspace are some popular social media sites. Social media is any medium where people can communicate with friends, share ideas. pictures, videos, and anything else.

Why should I build social media networks for my business?
Social media networks generally lead to enhanced search engine performance of your website's pages which translates into increased revenues. The new clients who will find you on social media also translate into additional income. The first year you will invest a lot in creating a critical mass of followers. However, once you build a network, it can grow on its own with less work from you. It can become like a goose thay lays golden eggs.

How do I pick a company to help me build my social network(s)
Interview a few companies and listen to how they communicate. Ask them what their strategies are and how they run other networks. People often misrepresent themselves, but its easy to see if someone is on the ball or not. Another factor to remember is that someone who is talented at managing a Facebook profile might not be good at Twitter and vice versa. There are many different skill sets involved in running a successful social media campaign, and the different mediums are different animals. Some service providers are good writers, while others are good strategists. Some are good at interacting and reaching out to new followers on the web, while others are good at analysis. Nobody is a master of any of these skills. So, if you are serious about social media, be prepared to have several talented individuals help you on your path.

Can you elaborate on the skills you need?

1. Writing. Writing blogs, Facebook posts, and Twitter posts are different animals. If you want people to read what you write, it should be well written and entertaining. Most of your fans on a professional social media profile are there for a good time, and are more concerned with amusing themselves than enhancing their business skills. Twitter posts (Tweets) are short and sweet. Writing 140 character messages that are interesting and entertaining is quite a skill. Few people have this skill, and without it, your network will be far less than optimal. There is an SEO - Search Engine Optimiztion slant to everything you write, especially on blogs. If the right keywords are not emphasized, then your site will not attract the right placement on search engines, and you will lose revenue. If you can't be a great SEO writer, at least understand keyword density and relevence so you can oversee your writer and know if he is off track.
2. Strategy. You need to know what to post about on your networks. Certain posts will be popular, others boring, and a few will even offend your users. The best strategy is provoke an emotional reaction from your followers so that they will respond to what you write and bring their friends into the picture. This is easier said than done. Knowing who to reach out to and when, and using which keywords is another strategy. Finding individuals under certain keywords could get you much more serious followers, while other keywords might be a waste of time. Everybody has keywords on their social media profile, and you can locate other potential fans by these keywords.
3. Public Relations. There are different ways to reach out to new potential followers. Someone who is good at this can gain you boatloads of new followers. Communicating with your fans is another facet that you can't ignore. If you maintain good relationships with your fans, they will participate more and refer you more. Social media is all about public relations
4. Analytics. If you can figure out which followers are valuable and which are not, that is a skill. If you can figure out how to attract more of the valuable followers faster, then you really have a skill. Social networks show you how many followers you have, but the more critical numbers are the interaction rate, and clickthroughs on links to other mediums. If you have a million fans, but nobody clicks on links that you post, then your network is not working. Figuring out which posts were popular and keeping organized notes on that subject is critical. If you systematically post about whatever people like most, you will grow faster. If a particular post is popular, and you create other similar, but not identical posts, those similar posts could be popular too. Figure out what people like.