Irish are losing in online Business

Irish businesses are losing money because they haven’t grasped the importance of a online presence according to Ronan Harris of Google Ireland. It is really” frustrating” that Irish businesses  haven’t grabbed the opportunities of the digital world and the Internet in the same way that some of the other markets have.

More and more money is being spent outside of Ireland and Irish entrepreneurs are missing out  on a opportunity to capture that market. There is a Irish concept out there that by buying a domain name and creating a website and just leaving it there everything will work fine. Social Media is a serious marketing tool to have at our disposal and if businesses spent a bit of time learning how to use it correctly it could increase sales.

Setting up online stores here in Ireland would keep the money in circulation and help to create badly needed jobs. You can localise your business on line by proper keyword analysis, it is a cheap way of  getting local custom    Facts:  If face book was a country it would be the fourth largest that’s over four hundred million users

Web 2.0 and Social Media

Web 2.0 and social media has today’s travel consumer  tweeting, texting, emailing, communicating with friends via Facebook, and commenting, often in real-time, on restaurants and hotels via review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor.

How will you reach these hyper-interactive consumers at multiple touch points during the research process?
And once your hotel has their attention, what should you do to encourage loyalty to your brand, increase site stickiness, create buzz around your hotel, and ultimately increase bookings?

Do not have the Resources

Many hoteliers believe they do not have the resources to dedicate to Web 2.0 and Social Media, or in other words, they are unable to meet the needs of today’s hyper-interactive traveler .

With more than 400 million users on Facebook, an average of 50 million tweets sent a day, and consumers expecting interactive and engaging hotel websites, the bottom line is that your hotel cannot afford to ignore Web 2.0, Social Media, or the hyper-interactive traveler.

Using Web.20 Initiatives to Engage your Website Visitors

Most websites are not equipped to handle the hyper-interactive travel consumer of today and offer dead, stale visual and textual content.

There is minimal interaction with the user; all he/she can do is sit back and read what is on the website, as if reading a novel in a library.

Many hotel websites are dead

Many hotel websites are dead, stale textual and visual content. There are no interactive Web-2.0 features engaging the travel consumer and soliciting his/her participation and input.

We at social media 4 business ireland are saying that if these businesses had a blog for there websites, they could interact with there consumers.

Plus having a blog would attract the search engines more quickly, and are more S E O friendly

Facebook now leads

“Facebook now leads by nearly three to one with 46% of all social network logins. The closest competitor across all sites is Google with 17%. Twitter follows behind Google with 14%, barely leading Yahoo’s 13%.

The numbers switch around when we start breaking them down into different categories.

We at social media 4 business ireland can tell you Facebook becomes even more dominant, increasing to 52% when we look at entertainment websites, with Twitter and Myspace jumping into second and third place.

For B2B websites

For B2B websites, the distribution is a bit more even overall, with Facebook taking 37% of the pie and Google, Yahoo and Twitter all coming in with around 18%.

The one sphere that really sticks out, however, is the login we choose when it comes to the news.

Of all the logins to news sites tracked by Gigya, 45% are completed using our Twitter credentials, with only 25% using Facebook and 16% using Google.”

You can localise your business on line by proper keyword analysis

Domino’s credits social media for sales growth

Domino’s Pizza has attributed strong growth in online sales to its use of promotions on location-based mobile application Foursquare and social media after revealing a 29% surge in pre-tax profits to £17.5m.

Domino’s Pizza: social media boosts growth

Social media 4 Business Ireland can tell you that Domino’s Pizza has reported a 29% surge in pre-tax profits to £17.5m, buoyed by a strong performance from e-commerce sales and attributed its link-up with Foursquare as key to its recent performance.

Takeaway Company

The takeaway company reported a like-for-like sales increase in 553 stores by 13.7% in the 26-week period to the end of 27 June this year.

e-Commerce Business

Domino’s now has 627 stores in the UK after 19 new stores were opened in the period. The company said it was on track for a further 55 store openings this year.

The group – which is celebrating 25 years of business – highlighted its e-commerce business as the stand-out performer.

It said sales in its e-commerce unit had grown by 61.4% in the period and that online sales now accounted for 32.7% of overall UK delivered sales.

In May this year, Domino’s launched a nationwide promotion on Foursquare that encourages users to check-in at its outlets.

Social Media Initiatives

In today’s financial results Domino’s said it had “led the way with social media initiatives such as affiliate marketing, our superfans programmes and the development of a link up with Foursquare, the location-based social media site”.

It added that its web-based activity had afforded it the dual benefit of “driving pizza sales” and “building customer loyalty”.

Chris Moore, chief executive, said: “It is easy to try and attribute our success to one thing – be it the weather, or Britain’s Got Talent, or the World Cup – but the underlying trend shows a more compelling picture.”

Takeaway Food Brands Perform Well

The results confirm the theory that takeaway food brands perform well in the economic downturn, as consumers opt for less expensive offerings.

Facebook and Twitter users spend 1.5x more online than the average Internet user

Glimpse of The Future

If you want to get a glimpse of the economic future, focus on the emerging trends driven by those defining the evolution of the social Web.

Social media is not only democratizing influence and upsetting the traditional media ecosystem, it is now an indicator for a potential economic resurgence.

Leading metrics firm, comScore, released its Q1 U.S E-Commerce Spending Report recently, finding that online retail spending approached $34 billion in Q1 2010, which represents a 10 percent boost compared to last year.

The surge also symbolizes the first time that growth rates hit double-digits since the second quarter of 2008.

Entering an Era of Social Shopping

In its detailed report, comScore also revealed both interesting and promising insight into the social consumer and their spending habits.

We at social media 4 business ireland can tell you that we are officially entering an era of social shopping, where individuals influence and are influenced by their peers within traditional social networks and a new genre of group buying or social commerce networks

Social Retail 2.0

Services such as Groupon, This Next, LivingSocial, ViewPoints and Milo represent what comScore dubs as Social Retail 2.0.

At the very least, these networks, in addition to social powerhouses Twitter and Facebook as well as location-based content and connectivity networks such as Yelp and FourSquare represent the need for brands to think beyond their domains in order to connect their products and services to consumers where their attention and interest is focused.

Consumers on Twitter

According to the report, 23% of Twitter users follow businesses to find special deals, promotions, or sales. Of that, 14% of Twitter users reported taking to the stream to find and share product reviews and opinions.

Consumers on Facebook

The time consumers spend on social networks, especially Facebook, continues its steep rise. But, top retail display advertisers are hesitant to advertise in social media.

As we can see however, several forward thinking brands are experimenting with the ability to earn awareness and “likes.” comScore’s Ad Metrix ranked the top social advertising foragers, with Netflix, ebay, and Teleflora taking the top three spots.

Online Spending

If there were doubts as to whether or not engagement or paid presence within social networks offered benefits, perhaps comScore’s research will shed some light on your consideration.

The revelation as surfaced in this study, is that Facebook and Twitter visitors spend more money online than average Internet users. And, as Facebook usage increases, so does the propensity to spend online.

On Facebook, heavy users spend on average $67 online

We at social media 4 business ireland  have learned that on Facebook, heavy users spend on average $67 online, topping the total internet average of under $50. Active Twitter users weren’t far behind, spending on average $63.

Perhaps most interesting here is that on Twitter, usage didn’t parlay into spending
.

Medium users on Twitter spent $75 online compared to $61 on Facebook and light users on Twitter also outspent Facebook users $73 to $50. Either way, heavy, medium, and light users outspent general Web users by upwards of 64%.

Taking a snapshot view, members of social networking sites spend 1.5x more online than the average Internet user.

However, engagement is absent from the comScore report. While we review spending and advertising behavior, it would behoove brands to study the opportunities rife within participatory circumstances where insight, direction, special offers, and support are offered person to person.

Top Brands on Twitter

With that said, I recently wrote about the Top Brands on Twitter. And, if you review the data shared at Fan Page List, we can also observe the Top Brands on Facebook as measured by the size and growth factor of brand pages.

Interesting Facts

With 7.9 million “likes” (formerly fans), Starbucks is lauded for its consistent engagement across multiple networks, fusing reciprocity, recognition, and reward in its day-to-day engagement with consumers and influencers alike. Coca-Cola follows with 5.8 million and Redbull and Victoria’s Secret follow in fifth and sixth respectively with 4.3 and 3.8 million.

The balance between marketing, advertising and service is far from an exact science and the formulas for assessing ROI is unique to the cases, the objectives, and the resources required brand by brand.

What’s certain is that Return on Ignorance if far more costly and devastating when competing for the future than we might have previously expected.

Twitter as A tool – Twitter as a Search Engine

Sure Twitter is a great way to tell your friends and family what aisle you are in while food shopping or maybe that you just got a haircut, but there are is a much more important tool inside of twitter that is often overlooked.

Twitter gives users the ability to search out terms by using their search tool. When you search out a term you get to see all of the tweets about that term. If you wanted to see who was talking about gardening, just type in gardening and all of the tweets will show up.

You can also search for terms inside of your area of interest. After searching gardening maybe soil or tomato plants would be a good idea. By using the search feature you will be able to interact with people who share your interests like never before.

The search feature is also a great customer service tool. You can search out product names, company names, or even your own name and answer questions people might have about your products or content. You will be able to either follow the people who are talking about what you are interested in or better yet you can at reply them.

Simply reply to their tweets and give them feedback on what they wrote. This is a surefire way to not only gain more followers but also interact with the people who are interested in the same things you are.

The number of followers you have is not important. The quality of the follower is key.

The search option is located half way down on the right hand side and is too often missed by new users of Twitter.

Facebook For Business

Wow! Facebook Marketing. So you say you hate Facebook…It’s just a place for kids. NO!! Did you know that Facebook has four hundred million active users? Are you aware that it is rapidly growing by over a half million users every single day?

Anyone and everyone from every walk of life are using Facebook today. No matter what you are promoting or selling, whether it is an opportunity, a product, or a service, many of those potential clients are on
Facebook.

If you are not there it is highly probable that your competitors are…

“Are you aware that it is rapidly growing by over a half million users every single day”? Anyone and everyone from every walk of life are using Facebook today. No matter what you are promoting or selling, whether it is an opportunity, a product, or a service, many of those potential clients are on Facebook.

So think about it…. If there are400,000,000 (million) people on Facebook and only 1% of them have an interest in what you are working with that is still 3 1/2 million people with whom you might have something in common.

What would this mean to your business

If only 1% of those 3 1/2 mil. people are interested in your page that is still 35,000 people or potential followers. If you can convert just 1% into sales or new distributors that is 3500 new sales/distributors.

That is a huge FREE marketing arena that anyone would be foolish to ignore. After all, massive companies and small companies alike are starting to also recognize the power and advantages of marketing on Facebook.

Companies like Coke, Microsoft, Sylvan Learning Centers and many others are using it as a revenue stream for their business. If you are smart you will get your piece of that pie.

So what are the secrets to monetizing Facebook

So what are the secrets to monetizing Facebook? There are many tips, strategies and methods that will build your relationships and eventually your income.

But where do you start?

It definitely pays to start networking with people who have like interests. But whatever you do-do not step in and start throwing up your opportunity all over them.

You need to get out of “pitch mode” and Stop MLM Recruiting! In the words of the famous Mike Dillard “No one wants to be sold, so stop selling them.”

You must focus on attraction marketing when using Facebook as a method of marketing. Give helpful tips and comments. Participate in conversations and make posts that add value and that others will find interesting.

Make sure that you join groups that relate to your objectives. If it is your goal to help people learn marketing skills then participate and join in groups who are like minded.

If you market a travel product join groups with similar interests. If you are focused on a product like MonaVie or Starscapes then join in groups dealing with health and wellness or room decor.

Give a few good tips in some group conversations and people will begin to add to your friend lists. Eventually people will begin to ask what exactly you do and then you can gently lead them into what you are actually focused on without barfing your stuff all over them.

You can even start your own groups

You can even start your own groups. People will see the group and join. As long as your comments are truthful and honest and don’t come across as spammy then you will again start to attract like minded people. Do not be afraid to share trade secrets.

When you do share though make sure you lead them on and somehow gather a name and email for your information. For instance, give them some good ideas and lead them well down the road to exactly what they are looking for and then get them to opt in for complete information.

This leads to another good way to build your list and start getting some juice from Facebook. Be sure to have an opt in box on your Facebook page.

This process goes beyond the scope of this article

Give a few good tips in some group conversations and people will begin to add to your friend lists. Eventually people will begin to ask what exactly you do and then you can gently lead them into what you are actually focused on without barfing your stuff all over them.

You can even start your own groups. People will see the group and join. As long as your comments are truthful and honest and don’t come across as spammy then you will again start to attract like minded people. Do not be afraid to share trade secrets.

When you do share though make sure you lead them on and somehow gather a name and email for your information. For instance, give them some good ideas and lead them well down the road to exactly what they are looking for and then get them to opt in for complete information.

12.5 Million Small Business Users on LinkedIn Can’t be Wrong!

Believe it or not

We at socialmedia4businessireland can tell you that LinkedIn has over 12.5 Million small business users now and the users are growing at an astonishing rate. One thing that small business owners don’t know is that social media is going to be paramount to growing their business, as competitors come in and start beating them at their own game.

You wouldn’t believe how savvy businesses have to be to get in front of their core consumers, those ideal clients that drive their business for success.

Social network sites for small businesses.

Well, that’s where social network sites like LinkedIn come in for small businesses. There are so many little tricks that small businesses can use to drive traffic to their website, while getting their ideal clients there…so they can either promote a product or service.

For example, think of how powerful the groups section is on LinkedIn. Let’s say that the business is a sporting line, perhaps a new sporting clothing line targeted toward extreme athletes.

The business has established distribution in Southern California in several surf shops, retail stores and other sport stores.

Businesses wants to create a bit of buzz

Now the businesses wants to create a bit of buzz to get their ideal customers, extreme athletes to go out and buy products either from the site or from stores they just landed distribution in.

The next thing to do is start signing up for groups on LinkedIn that are very sports specific, especially a group that is specific to extreme athletes that live in Southern California.

If you get your customers

The group might only be a few thousand, but if you get your customers to fall in love with your product and they tell 20 of their friends, and than a few of them tell another 20 of their friends, than you are off to the races with viral marketing.

Remember, the group is very targeted and that is exactly what you want. Finding your ideal customers is paramount to your success.

Should You Use Facebook?

We at social media 4 businesss ireland try and keep our readers up to date on all aspects of social media.We hope you enjoy our lastest findings.

With the issue of personal privacy and the internet in the limelight lately, people are beginning to reassess their involvement with social media.

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts all give personal online presence, but at what cost? While these social media outlets promise privacy, do they really provide?

Mark Zuckerburg-( Founder of Facebook)

Examine Facebook, the unquestioned social media leader of today; Mark Zuckerburg (founder and CEO of Facebook) himself has confirmed that Facebook is moving more and more toward more lax privacy settings in line with the Facebook corporate vision of a more open virtual world.

Yet this ‘open world’ has consequences – not only regarding interpersonal private, but also from corporations seeking personal information to tailor advertising to individuals. With this in mind, do the advantages of Facebook outweigh the disadvantages?

Pros:

Facebook allows you to stay in touch with friends and family who you might otherwise be disconnected from.

Facebook is the “in” form of communication; cutting yourself off from Facebook might keep you ‘out of the loop’ with regards to events coordinated online and friends who will be communicating with one another on Facebook regardless of whether or not you decide to stick with the social media giant.

Keep up to date-business opportunities

Keep up to date with your interests (TV shows, bands, authors etc) who provide updates on Facebook.

Business opportunities – creating a page on Facebook can be extremely useful in promoting a business if utilized properly. If a business page can hook a sizable number of fans, events can be sent out to all followers at once, integrating corporate events into the personal events of users.

Convenient storage location for pictures/videos you wish to share with friends and loved ones.

Cons:

Privacy settings are very lax by default. Facebook’s claims of simplicity in privacy settings have been greatly exaggerated.

Easy to find and browse

Lack of control over what others post. One can be included in the status updates of others and tagged in pictures uploaded by other people without even being a Facebook user.

Being a Facebook user only compounds the issue by centralizing all the posts people have made about you on a single page, making everything ever posted about you/by you easy to find and browse through.

Advertising.

Facebook is a free service, and will likely remain a free service as long as it remains supported by advertisers.

However, the issue here is not that advertising appears on Facebook, it’s that Facebook provides advertisers with personal information about you in order for them to better target ads to you–personal information like your browsing habits and interests you might not want others to know about.

Reconnect with others – even the people you might have preferred stayed out of your life.

Annoyances.

Already Facebook ‘viruses’ based on scripts exist that can clog up the feeds of both you and your friends, not to mention exploit vulnerabilities in browsers that can give your computer itself viruses.

With these in mind, remember that the choice is up to you, the consumer, whether or not to use Facebook. For all its wealth and corporate power, Facebook is ultimately powerless without users–a fact that should give you at least some small sense of empowerment.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Trent_Hawkins