Polling customers has always been a little tedious. You can use traditional means with post card surveys or digital means with email marketing or polls on your website. They’ve worked just fine, but the feedback breaks just “good enough.”

Last month Facebook released Facebook Questions. This new feature allows you to ask questions of your friends and, most importantly, your likers!

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Looking for a new idea or anything to help get your business booming? Well who better to ask then the people who already know you so well. The only ones that can make a difference and increase your companies word of mouth are the ones already engaged with your brand. They know what they like and they know what they don’t like about your brand and it’s up to you to figure out how to utilize this knowledge.

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and even email marketing can be very effective with the right steps taken. Too many companies today join facebook and update their followers with the information that most of them are already aware of because they do “like” you’re brand. If you really want to gain some ROI on your time invested in social media, it is best to ask your loyal consumers what they would like and build up a majority of input that can be realistically met. When you see through with the requests of your consumers it builds a strong loyalty to your brand making your consumers more inclined to spread the word about your brand and the new changes put forth. Just remember. Facebook isn’t going to help your company, but rather help you get in touch with the people that can.

By: Mark G. Valente | Online Marketing Director | @MarkwithMWL | Vigor Interactive Branding

This Infograph gives Social Media skeptics a better grasp on the processes taken and how the word of mouth can be spread throughout the internet using many different social networks. Social media is effective every time so long as you care about your consumers and provide the customer service they search for.

So we all agree Facebook is as necessary as a website if you’re going to make any kind of traction with online marketing, right? Good. Now that we have that cleared up, let’s talk about some ways NOT to use Facebook for your business.

Facebook has given businesses a way to connect directly to consumers on the consumers’ terms. It’s the epitome of why online marketing works. Facebook’s tools give businesses a way to engage them, bring them in and let them experience their brands. However, they can be used negatively without the restaurant or brand even knowing. Obviously this is detrimental as abusing a consumer’s acceptance of you will result in ejection and a bad reputation to their friends. Not good. So, let’s stave off some common pratfalls by other brands….

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Social Media can be quite confusing coming from different markets, leaving many businesses confused on how to develop their online marketing campaigns. The main question always tends to be this; Which online networks do I utilize first to gain effective results? At Vigor, the we answer this dilemma with three simple words: ALL OF THEM!

It makes no sense to try sites out individual and wait for results before moving onto the next one. Start with all of the sites and learn from your mistakes quickly and learn which sites are least effective. This is a better and quicker way of getting rid of “the bad apples.” You want your content to be everywhere from Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Youtube, and even photo sharing sites to spread your company brand. Many different tools are offered today to help manage all of this content from one site. Ping.fm allows you to maintain blogs along with any social networking site with the ability to post to any or all networks with a single click. Of course there is a lot of time put into the development of these accounts, but maintaining the content with frequent updates and business-to-consumer information has become much more efficient thanks to tools such as ping.

By: Mark G. Valente | Online Marketing Director | Vigor Interactive Branding

Want to really customize your company or band’s fan page? With the use of the FBML (Facebook Markup Language) application you open a new window of possibilities for sharing your information. Build fully customizable pages where users can interact with your companies site right from Facebook. Don’t force people in a certain direction; be where they already are.

The Static FBML application enables users to render HTML and FBML for a more enhanced page customization. Many bands and corporations are utilizing this app to promote and sell their products while still keeping the user on facebook for direct contact with your consumers. These are just a small list of some of the companies:

Best-Buy

Honda

Now you see the list of possibilities opened up to you with FBML. Do some research and bring a NEW look to your Facebook Page.

By: Mark G. Valente | Online Marketing Director | Vigor Interactive Branding

Linkedin has been an increasingly successful business network of over 65 million users, connecting them to exchange information, ideas, and potential business opportunities. This network allows users to connect with other professionals within three degrees of separation (a friends, friends, friend). This gives those who don’t know you the ability to see some of your posts, activity, or ask you questions.

Today Linkedin launched their, Facebook-like, sharing features. Now, posted links in your status box will have a drop-down with a photo from the link along with an article excerpt. You also have the ability to set who sees each post with the option to edit and/or delete. Each post can be automatically sent to your twitter account, which is why they will be launching a url shortener today as well.

The main things everyone is wondering now is: Will business professionals share articles with the Linkedin network along with Fcebook and Twitter? Could link sharing and these Facebook-like features take away from the business sharing aspect of the site? The last thing we want to see are people spamming an idea-sharing network to sell their professional brand or product. This may weaken Linkedin but it is, as always, up to the users to determine the success of this controversial feature.

By: Mark G. Valente | Online Marketing Director | Vigor Interactive Branding