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Thursday, August 09, 2007

Press Release: DMA Accepts StepForth Whitepaper

Written by Ross Dunn and published at 10:16 AM

StepForth is proud to announce that after careful review The Direct Marketing Association, a recognized and respected resource for marketers, has accepted StepForth's white paper titled "Do it Yourself Social Media Marketing" into its approved marketing knowledge base.

The "Do it Yourself Social Media Marketing" white paper was written to educate business owners on the essentials methods required to harness the immense power of social media marketing.

Social media marketing is defined within the white paper as "a method of promoting your brand (be it yourself, a product, a service, or a company) by strategically making your presence known across various social media networks (such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Myspace, etc)."

About The Direct Marketing Association
"The Direct Marketing Association is the leading global trade association of business and nonprofit organizations using and supporting direct marketing tools and techniques.

DMA advocates industry standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the entire direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today has more than 3,600 members from the US and 46 other nations, including the majority of companies listed on the Fortune 100." quoted from "About the DMA"

About StepForth Web Marketing Inc.
StepForth Web Marketing Inc. is a web marketing agency that has provided Internet marketing services since 1997 and is a recognized leader in the online marketing industry. StepForth's web marketing services include: search engine optimization, pay per click campaign management, keyword and competitor research, website analytics and social media marketing plan creation.

Labels: Press Releases, Social Marketing, StepForth, Whitepapers

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This SEO News was posted by Ross Dunn @ 10:16 AM.

Copyright ©2006-2012, The SEO News Blog, StepForth SEO Services
View this Article Only: Press Release: DMA Accepts StepForth Whitepaper

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Thursday, June 28, 2007

Do it Yourself Social Media Marketing - A StepForth Whitepaper

Written by Ross Dunn and published at 2:49 PM

SEO Meet SMM (Social Media Marketing) was the most information-dense seminar that I attended at SMX Advanced, a multi-day conference geared for advanced web marketing professionals. As a result, it has taken a while to view my footage and pick out all of the best tips to share with you. The SEO Meet SMM seminar was paneled with an all-star cast of Rand Fishkin, Neil Patel and Cindy Krum. Between these three incredibly bright people, and my own experience and research I have put together this whitepaper on how to use social media marketing (SMM) to your advantage. I believe this is the most current (timely), accurate and cutting edge information available for those who want to start marketing in this field.

The Concept
Social media marketing is a method of promoting your brand (be it yourself, a product, a service, or a company) by strategically making your presence known across various social media networks (such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Myspace, etc). This may seem overly elementary but “making yourself known” is the kicker because each category of social media has a different, sometimes intricate method for effective promotion.

Business from Social Marketing is Indirect
A key concept to social marketing is that it is not designed to immediately provide business but instead it provides the visibility your brand needs to ultimately convert fans into buyers. I often get clients saying “I don’t think being on MySpace will sell anything”. The truth is that often they are correct. Having a commercial presence on MySpace that provides great content and interesting free tools (aka. widgets) serves to raise the awareness of your brand so that users remember your service for later and/or provides you with a podium to share the benefits of your brand. In short, it is important not to forget this essential concept: social media marketing drives brand awareness which later translates into sales.

Social Media Categories and Associated Strategies
Here is an introduction to the various top portals segregated into their appropriate categories and mated with a recommended strategy. Please keep in mind the following is only a partial listing of some social media sites. If you want a more comprehensive (but unorganized) list check out this list of web 2.0 sites which includes social media properties (very extensive list).

I have organized Social Media Marketing into the following categories or themes:

A) Social Networking Sites
The following social networking sites experience a volume of activity unrivaled in the social media marketplace. These sites provide it all; personal blogs, videos, music, classifieds, mail, and much, much more.

MySpace: this site offers the widest variety of tools and social networking capabilities.
Facebook: great for connecting with old classmates and creating a personal profile.

Associated Marketing Strategy
Each of these sites allow you to create a powerfully diverse and engaging web presence complete with photos, articles, and bookmarks. MySpace even provides the ability to ‘skin’ your profile! In other words you can actually brand it to make it totally unique; a powerful marketing capability (To view a great example see Starbuck’s MySpace account). Assuming the site is already done it is best to then start linking to the site from key areas of the Internet so the search engines will have no problem finding and indexing it. You can do this by linking to it from a social media section of your website; a section that I believe will be part of the status quo structure (as ubiquitous as the About Page) of all new websites in the near future.

»» Move on to section B of this whitepaper: "Business Networking Sites" or view the complete PDF of this 4000 word detailed introduction to social media marketing.

by Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Placement Inc.
Celebrating 10 Years of SEO Excellence

Labels: Ross Dunn, Social Marketing, Tutorials, Whitepapers

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This SEO News was posted by Ross Dunn @ 2:49 PM.

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View this Article Only: Do it Yourself Social Media Marketing - A StepForth Whitepaper