Earn from social media

How to Make Money From Social Media

Social Media Usage is at the all time high right now in World and still growing. India just became the number one country for Facebook in the world in terms of monthly active users! You can see from this slide from 2017 Digital Yearbook by ‘We Are Social’ that the active social media users worldwide are already about to touch 3 billion users! Just imagine how big the market is out there. All you need to do is to effectively tap this market.

Remember one thing, the primary purpose of Social Media is to build social connections but that does not mean that you cannot use it to earn money. In fact, the social media ads like Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads or LinkedIn Ads are meant for leads/sales generation only. So it makes sense to not spam your users with promotional offers.
Mixing informational posts along with promotional posts is the right way to build audience and business together on social media.
So, how to earn money by social media? Here are 5 ways to earn money through social media:

How To Earn On Social Media Via Your Own Products

You can also create your own products with digital and physical. Though I would recommend to begin with Digital products (like eBooks, courses etc.) because they are easier to create and promote and take less amount of money in the beginning to develop the products. For instance, you can list your eBook on Amazon Kindle or ClickBank and then promote the link of your eBook on different social media channels. And once the sales start rolling, you have to do nothing but collect the payment (being a digital product, you can sell it N number of times!).
Physical products, on the other hand, require larger capital in the development stage and one should go for them only once you have validated the product idea and have sufficient capital to invest in its development. That said, physical products like designer jewelry, crafts, and other home/living products are relatively easier to develop and sell online (for such product categories you can visit Etsy.com).
Digital Marketing Course by Digital Vidya
So, once you have decided on your product (digital or physical), you can sell it directly on different social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram etc., or you can sell it through websites like Etsy or any other e-commerce stores which allow such selling.
If you decided to sell directly on social media on your own, then you will have to take care of shipping, customer care, logistics etc., while with other e-commerce stores, they take care of these aspects.

Earning Money On Social Media By Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is one of the best ways to make money online. Affiliate marketing, in a nutshell, is a way to make money by promoting products of other companies (like Amazon.com etc.) using your unique affiliate links, which you get after signing up with them.
Apart from Amazon (which doles out 4% to 10% of commission per sale), there are many other networks like ClickBank (for Digital Products), Rakuten, CJ Affiliate, Booking.com (for Travel) etc., which offer lucrative affiliate commissions.
Earning Money On Social Media
Amazon Associates Affiliate Program
If you are good at building social media communities and can promote affiliate products using social media ads (just remember to keep your ad costs less than the money you earn) then you can earn a handsome amount of money.
Just remember that it is always a good practice to add a disclosure about your affiliate links to your social media audience. This builds up a trust with them. Secondly, don’t spam your social media communities with affiliate links as this puts off the people. Always have a healthy ratio of generic informational posts (which are of interest to your audience) to the promotional posts (with your affiliate links).

How To Earn Money From Social Media Using YouTube

Building a successful YouTube channel is not a cakewalk, in fact, nothing on social media or digital media marketing is a cakewalk anymore. It requires a lot of planning, persistence, hard work and creativity to build a successful YouTube channel.
Once you have at least 10,000 public views of your channel videos, you are deemed eligible to apply for YouTube Partner program. You can visit  youtube.com/account_monetization to check your channel’s total view count. Apart from this, your channel should adhere to YouTube’s Partner Program Policies to get approved.
Here are the steps listed by Google to apply for YouTube Partner Program:
  • Sign in to your YouTube account.
  • In the top right, select your account icon > Creator Studio.
  • In the left menu, select Channel > Status and features.
  • Under “Monetization,” click Enable.
  • Follow the on-screen steps to accept the YouTube Partner Program Terms.





Join the YouTube Partner Program

Building a popular YouTube channel can be a lot of work. But if you already have a following, or you're determined to build your audience, joining the YouTube Partner Program to make money on advertising might be a path worth exploring.
There are prominent YouTube content creators who have made substantial amounts of money with this program, but they are the exception rather than the rule. It would take a lot of time, strategy and sheer luck to make money on YouTube. However, this is a good thing to keep in mind with advertising in general. Unless you're already getting a lot of views and clicks, you're not going to make a lot of money on them.


Earning Money On Social Media By Providing Freelance SMM Services


You can also provide freelance social media marketing services to your potential clients. You can provide services like social media auditing, Facebook page management, social media content creation, social media advertisements (PPC Ads on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.), running social media contests etc.
You can start your freelance social media marketing business by creating your own personal brand on social media to attract the leads and inquiries. You can do that by writing guest blog posts on social media marketing on popular digital marketing related blogs. You can also create your own website or blog to create your own brand and share your blog posts on different social media channels to bring in traffic.
If you can create and share quality content (which is actually helpful to your target audience) on a regular basis, you will soon start getting inquiries from potential clients to handle their social media marketing. And once you do a quality work, you will start getting word-of-mouth references too.
You can also ask your friends or others acquaintances in your professional circles for any social media relating projects in case they are looking for someone to handle the same.
Another way to search Freelance social media marketing jobs is via Freelance sites like Freelancer.com, Upwork.com, Guru.com, PeoplePerHour.com etc. Just create an account on any of these sites. Add your complete professional details and work samples and you are good to go.


Use visual media to promote your crafts.

If you tend to create handmade crafts, art pieces, or even articles of clothing and knitting, there may be an opportunity to showcase your products on social media. Instagram and Pinterest may seem like obvious places to hit, but Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are also great channels for sharing visual media.
If you have an Etsy account, you can direct your followers to check out your products there, and between the different channels, you have the potential to make a good living.

Create and promote your own information products.

If you already have a blog, and you've demonstrated your expertise on a specific subject over a period of time, there may be an opportunity to create an ebook, audio program or video course and sell it to your audience. Social media is the perfect place to promote such a product.
Platforms like Gumroad, Sellfy and Amazon's KDP program make it easy for you to publish and sell your PDF, MP3 or video file at a price of your choosing -- keeping in mind that all platforms do take a cut, even if it's small.
As with anything, quality is key to creating something people not only want to read, but will pay to read. If you take extra care in creating great information, designing and promoting it well, you will definitely see more sales.







Do you like food? Not just eating it, but also trying new recipes and reading about  it? Then a food blog might be right up your alley. Food blogs are popular and easy to monetize. But like all other work-at-home options, it takes planning and action to be successful.

Pros to Starting a Food Blog

  • You can turn your enjoyment of food into income.
  • You get to be creative with your food creations.
  • It's easy and affordable to get started.
  • It's easy to monitize through ads, affiliate programs, and sponsorships.
  • You can build a community around food and eating.
  • It can lead to other opportunities such as books, or if you're really lucky, a cooking show as Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman did.
Cons to Starting a Food Blog
  • Successful blogs need new content often, which means a lot of cooking and coming up with new ideas.
  • You need to be able to take great photographs of your cooking process and end results.
  • It can take time to build up a readership that leads to a good income.

How to Start a Food Blog

Here are tips to starting and making money from a food blog:
1. Decide what type of food blog you want to start. Niches always do better than general topics, even when it comes to food. Niches to consider are gluten, carb or sugar-free, vegan, or frugal cooking. Or you can specialize in a type of food such as chocolate or side-dishes.
2. Create a blog name. Choose a name that describes your blog and is available as a domain name.
When coming up with your name, be descriptive, but not too limiting that you can’t expand on your idea. For example,  a chocolate candy blog is too narrow and instead you might want to have a name that would include chocolate cookies and cakes, and even meals (i.e. mole sauce).
3. Purchase your domain name and webhosting. You can create a blog on free sources such as Blogger or Weeby, but the most succesful (and profitable) bloggers, have their own hosting.Many web-hosts will include the purchase of your domain name when signing up for service. Or you can buy them separately. Choose a web-host that offers easy WordPress install. There are other content management platforms, but WordPress is the most used and one of the easiest to learn.
4. Install WordPress on your webhosting account. Check with your host provider on how you can do this from within your hosting account. Once installed, choose a theme that works well with food. From within your WordPress dashboard you can search “food” themes and click to install. For best results, choose a theme that is responsive (adjusts for easy reading on tablets and smartphones), optimized for search engines, and is easy for readers to navigate. You can get themes for free, but you might want to consider purchasing a theme for greater customization and features.
5. Install plugins to maximize the site. The basic plugins you should install include Askimet for comment spam filtering, social media tools so people can share your content, caching to make your site load faster and be less of a drain on your host, contact form (don’t put your email address on your blog or you’ll get spam), and Google Analytics.Also, consider adding  foodie plugins such as EasyRecipe, which makes it easy to enter and print recipes, as well as optimizes your recipes for Google.
6. Set up an email list. Email lists will help you generate more income. How? You can email your list to let it know about new recipes, reminding people to return to your site so they can then click on your monetization options. You can also email special offers and promotions.  Use an email service and paste a sign-up form on your blog. Offer a freebie such as recipes or cooking videos to entice visitors to subscribe.
7. Add recipes. You should add 10 to 15 recipes right away so readers have several to read. After that, create a blogging schedule to add several recipes a week.  When you add your recipes, take appetizing photos and write clear, step-by-step instructions.
Don’t be afraid to add personalized information such as changes you made to the recipe or stories about the recipe’s history (i.e. if it’s grandma’s recipe).
8. Promote your blog. One myth many have is that by building a blog, people will read it. But that’s not true. People can’t read what they don’t know about. While you want to optimize for search engines, you can’t rely on search engines alone to drive traffic to your blog. Set up social media accounts such as Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter to share your recipes.  Make videos that you can post on your blog, but also publish on YouTube.  Develop an online marketing plan to reach your target market. Don’t forget to consider off-line marketing strategies as well.
9. Monetize your blog. Making money requires having traffic, which is why you need to market (#8) before you monetize. But once you have visitors to your blog, start adding money-making resources. A few options include contextual advertising such as Google AdSense and affiliate programs, such as promoting cooking tools. As you grow, you can write your own cookbooks or sell training videos.
Blogging is a business, so don’t forget to take care of legal matters such as business permits and self-employment taxes.
People who enjoy writing are now able to convert that passion into dollars quickly, thanks to the Internet. More specifically, the game-changing innovation is known as blogging.
Fortunately, blogging does not require much technical wizardry, if any. If you're capable of putting down inspiring copy, choosing the right blogging platform, and picking the right marketing tactics, you too can make money.
Curious about how it’s done?  Let's look at five ways you can build your audience and make money blogging.

1 Build Your Blog Audience
 build your blog audience

Use your favorite and most effective marketing strategies to bring people to your blog.  Building an audience is not a trivial pursuit, so don't hesitate to properly learn online marketing and advertising techniques if you're just starting out.
Begin with something simple, like using links to your blog from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Proceed to other options like video marketing (YouTube), email marketing, and search engine optimization techniques as your audience grows.

2 Allow Your Visitors to Buy or Donate
 make sales online

If you write about specific topics (e.g. gardening, dog training, golf) that easily lend themselves to making purchases online, consider setting up a PayPal merchant account or the equivalent. This way, motivated readers can show immediate appreciation for your advice and you earn cash from original or affiliate products (see below).
See also: The Most Profitable Online Niches Markets Revealed
On the other hand, if you are wary of selling and marketing for profit, why not leave a coffee cup image to collect donations for your excellent information and brilliant insights? It won't earn you as much money as affiliate marketing or contextual ads, but the number of donations may give you an idea of your earning potential.

3 Make Money with Affiliate Marketingaffiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is tough when you have to chase after new customers one at a time.  However, with a blog, you can strategically place great products in front of a loyal audience who are likely to know, like and trust you.
Whether you choose items from ClickBank or individual companies, ensure that these items are high quality and are aligned with your values and those of your audience. Check out the rules for earning commissions (e.g. first link versus last link purchases, full disclosure requirements, etc.) to ensure that you are properly rewarded by each program.
Note: you can see all of our affiliate marketing articles here.

4 Make Money Blogging with Contextual Advertisingcontextual advertising


Contextual ads give you a way to monetize your excellent content by showing readers relevant ads that may interest them. If they click through, you earn a small fee (commission) as compensation for hosting the ad. Small fees that add up over time…
The service effectively does all the work once you set the parameters: amount of ads, size, placement on your blog etc. Your selection of keywords will determine the quality of the appearing ads, and hence the amount of money you make.

5 Original Content is Kingoriginal content


 Making money from blogs is great, and a number of people are able to earn a full-time income from it. Above all, though, your blog is meant for providing meaningful information to readers, so maintain your integrity as your income increases.This means sticking to original content, including product reviews of items you've actually used and can wholeheartedly recommend. Those being said, use all the creative and ethical techniques to attract attention to your best offers (e.g. embedded product links within text and/or images).
Conclusion
Making money from blogging can encompass different levels of financial compensation, ranging from weekly coffee change to a full-time online business. Whatever your income goals are, they are achievable with a little bit of work, some luck, and a willingness to grow your targeted reading audience with tried and tested marketing techniques.
There are lots of places to buy cheap domain names. And while most of the vendors are reputable, there are some key points to keep in mind when deciding who you want to register your domain with. You can check out some of our recommend cheapest domain registrars here.
Keep in mind, you don't have to host your website at the same place you buy your domain name. For instance, many people will buy their domain name with a company like GoDaddy.com then host their website with a web hosting company like Bluehost.com.Here are six tips to buying great, cheap domain names.

1. Don’t Settle with "Close Enough" Domains

While everyone's preference is a ".com" domain, sometimes it just isn't available. Resist the urge to add bizarre and hard to remember features just to find one that is available.
Here are three things to avoid when choosing your domain name:
  • Hyphens: People will forget where the hyphens go (especially if there are more than one) or forget them altogether. And if you need to speak your site address (voice mail, radio ads, word-of-mouth) then the hyphen just makes it clumsy. It's even worse if your competitor uses the same domain as you, only without hyphens. You’ll send daily traffic to their site when your visitors enter your domain incorrectly. Generally speaking, you should completely avoid using hyphens in your domain name.
  • .Org, .Net, .Biz Type Extensions: If you aren't able to get the ".com" version of the site you want but the ".net", ".biz", etc. version of the domain name is available - you may want to hold off before going with those extensions. First, if there is already a well known brand that uses the ".com" version there may be legal implications to you using any version of the domain name. Second, even if the other extension is available, most people are familiar with the ".com" version and may end up going to that website anyways; essentially you'd be advertising for your competitor for free. When a client searches for ".net" version of the domain name, you have to compete against a larger, already established brand. And when a client is actually looking for you, they might not remember your less well known name and end up buying from your competitor.
  • Multiple Spellings and Numbers: Because most people can’t spell, choose a word (or words) that can’t be easily confused. For example, the word "bass" has two pronunciations and as a result will be spelled incorrectly, a number of ways. Bass can refer to various fish species, a low-frequency sound, more than ten different towns around the world or even a surname. Second avoid using numbers, as many people may confuse whether or not they need to type in the actual number, like "7", or type in the spelling of it, like "seven".

2. Buy From an Established Registrar

While there are hundreds of places to buy a domain, don’t buy from an unknown domain registrar. The odds of them going out of business is probably low - but why put yourself through that type of risk? The lack of customer support is probably a more likely threat - you want to opt for a company that offers 24/7 customer support. Some reputable domain name registrars include:

3. Brain Storm Before Your Begin Searching

Use a free brainstorming tool, also known as a domain name generator, to automatically come up with several variations of your domain name ideas (and see whether or not it's available).
The other invaluable tool is a thesaurus. I've used both a print copy and the online Thesaurus.com. Once you have your few keywords in mind, look them up. Sometimes you’ll get the right word right away. Other times it will take a few hours of playing with variants.
Remember: this is worth the time. You are going to be investing hundreds of hours building a brand and generating traffic for this domain.Choosing the right domain is very important.

4. Buy Your Domain Name for 2 Years Minimum

When you purchase your domain name, rather than just registering it for one year, you should consider registering it for at least two years (or more). Here are a few reasons to do that:
  • Lock in a lower price: Usually the more years you register, the lower the price per year will be. Also, as costs generally go up each year, you'll be locking in that low rate.
  • Save time and hassle: You won't have to worry about renewing your domain name every year or forget to renew your domain name and end up losing it!
  • SEO Benefits: Google rewards your commitment with higher search ranking.

5. Don’t Buy Auctioned Names

While many companies want single word, generic domains (insurance.com or travel.com) you should avoid these.
There are two problems with these domains:
  1. They aren't memorable: It is pretty hard to build a brand around a single, meaningless word. The word might define the industry but clients are looking to buy from a company not a generic site. Also, Google and other search engines prefer to rank branded domain names over generic ones.
  2. They are expensive: Premium domains sell for hundreds of dollars up to millions of dollars (Insure.com sold for $16 million in 2009).
Customers relate to brands, not dictionary entries. When the internet was new, people would type a word into their browser and add ".com" to the end. We don’t do that anymore. These generic domains have had their day. Unfortunately, big companies still don’t get it and happily pay 6 or 7 figures for these low value domains.

6. Read the Fine Print

Some registrars offer private registration for free. Others charge as much as $11.99 per year. Make sure you are comparing equal variables. Sometimes the "cheapest" option actually costs more.
You’ll also want to make sure about the following features:
  • Auto domain renewals: Most registrars are now offering this service, but it's good to check. The last thing you want is to lose your domain because you forgot to renew it.
  • Free domain parking until you are ready to use your domain.
  • Free domain forwarding in case you are using your domain as a redirect link.
  • Hosting options: While some domain registrars also offer hosting, many business owners opt to host their sites elsewhere. This gives them the freedom to change hosts without moving their domains.
  • Renewal costs: A low price is great, but how much will it cost to renew?
With these tips, you're ready to purchase a great, cheap domain name. Once you've done that it's time to build your website and start driving massive amount of website traffic.
Can you really make money blogging by turning your personal passions, knowledge, or experience into a real income on the internet?
Close to a decade after the Wall Street meltdown, people are still finding it tough to recover past losses and make ends meet. Fewer and fewer of us can count on steady, lifelong employment, and for those who are so fortunate, the salary and benefits (if any) are barely enough to meet our basic needs.Second job, anyone? In America, two-income families are the norm, but think of the havoc it wrecks on your daily life. You’re so exhausted by the time you get home from work, you barely have enough time and energy to make dinner and help the kids out with their homework. Even that becomes difficult if you work at more than one place, whether evenings or on weekends.
The reality is we are moving to a freelance and gig economy where more and more people are making money on their own terms through a side hustle. And of the most popular side hustles is to create an online presence and make money blogging.
It's no surprise that more and more people are looking for information on how to start an online business to generate extra income (or even full-time income) on the internet.
The Internet has made blogging mainstream, to the point where there may be over half a billion blogs online as you read this article.
While income generation is not the only reason (or even the best reason) to blog, opportunities do exist for people to create supplemental income with a blog. 
If you are new to blogging or have just recently started a blog, congratulations! I hope your main motivation is to provide valuable content for your readers because that’s how you will establish expert status in your niche in the long-term.However, there is nothing wrong with making some extra money through blogging and several simple methods exist for getting the ball rolling.
It should go without saying that in order to make money with a blog it's best to start off by choosing a profitable niche market; something where there is a proven marketplace that intersects with your own passions, interests, and expertise.
Once you've done that, it's just a matter of getting website traffic, building your email subscriber list, and making money online. Let's take a look at some of the fastest, easiest, and most profitable ways you ca make money online with a blog.

1. Google Adsense

Google Adsense might be the fastest and easiest way for a beginner to start earning passive income with a blog. The basic ideas behind Adsense is that you can display Google Ads on your website and when a visitor clicks on those ads you get a percentage of the ad costs. You've certainly have seen ads on other people's websites; you can have these ads appear on your blog or website as well.
Adsense is a contextual advertising network that places partner (business) ads on your website. It’s easy to set up—all you have to do is copy and paste some code given to you from Google in the places you'd like the ads to appear on your website.Google will then show ads from advertisers that are a match to the content on your website so that ideally your website visitors are seeing relevant ads.
Don’t worry that your blog niche won’t be able to draw quality ads to your site. Google Adsense is one of the biggest networks on the Web, so you should get a healthy enough list of clickable sites to attract your readership.
And Google is smart enough to only show ads on your website that are relevant to the content on your website, so in many cases this can enhance the user experience on your site and the ads can be helpful.
Just make sure your content is of the highest quality!
Though Adsense is a popular option, I think that affiliate information marketing is also an excellent way to make virtually passive income online.

2. Amazon Associates

Amazon Associates is the long established in-house affiliate program run by Seattle-based Amazon.com—the biggest online retailer in the world today.
It offers bloggers the chance to earn commissions by advertising Amazon products on your website—provided visitors click-through from your blog to Amazon.com and make a purchase.
The basic idea with Amazon Associates is that you can get a tracking link that is unique to you that links to any product sold on Amazon.com. If someone clicks on the link on your blog and goes back to Amazon and purchases the item, you are credited with the sale.
There are many ways you can promote Amazon products on your website. You could include a product catalog (pulled from Amazon.com) on your blog, you can write product reviews and link to the products you recommend on Amazon, and you can have a recommended resources page on your website; just to name a few.
The one caveat about Associates is that it probably suits bloggers who write about merchandising, retail products and shopping a fair bit. Logically, it will help your performance if visitors arrive at your website already predisposed to buying.
The program works by getting Amazon links, banners, or widgets (e.g. slideshows, ‘My Favorites’, ‘Wish List Widget’) onto your pages.
One added benefit is that if someone clicks on a link from your website to Amazon and ends up buying multiple items (not just the item you are promoting) then you would get credit for the entire sale! Imagine you recommend a book on Amazon, your visitor goes to Amazon to buy a book - and while they're there they end up buying a new TV, a Sony PlayStation, and some other things... you get credit for all of the sales. Not only that but any sales that are made in the following 15 days from that customer are credited to you as well.
Another way to make money with Amazon is by publishing digital books on Amazon Kindle.

3. Affiliate Marketing for Digital Products

As I mentioned above, on of my favorite ways to make money on the internet is by promoting digital information products as an affiliate.
Just like Amazon.com is a marketplace of physical good sold on the internet; there are also marketplaces of digital products sold on the internet as well.
One of the most popular digital product marketplaces is Clickbank.com. You can search the Clickbank marketplace for products related to your marketplace and promote them on your website, write product reviews, etc.
Just like with Amazon, if someone clicks on the link and goes back and buys the product you are promoting, you would get a commission for a percentage of the sale.
One attractive feature of promoting digital information products is that the commissions tend to be higher than that of physical products; ranging anywhere from 10% to 50% or even higher. As an example, if someone is selling a digital information product for $500 with a 50% commission - you can earn $250 per sale. This is much higher than commissions on physical products due to the high profit margins.

4. Create E-books and Information Products

Regular blogging is the ideal training ground for creating e-books, still one of the most popular forms of information products being sold by online entrepreneurs today.
Consider your blogs as “free” information that you offer to readers to demonstrate your expertise. With time, they become your fans and are ready for more in-depth material. This is your opportunity to make money—by presenting your e-books for sale alongside your free blog.
Just make sure that the e-book builds on your blog output—don’t simply rehash what they have already seen! After all, these people are now paying customers and will get upset with old information. Later on, as you become more established and your archived material becomes more extensive, poll your readers to see what topics they’d be interested in learning more about and potentially what topics of e-books they’d be interested in purchasing.
Again, you can sell an ebook for a much higher price than a regular book and benefit from a much higher profit margin.

5. Offer One-on-One Coaching

This is one of the quickest and easiest ways you can turn your expertise into money. The fact that you are publishing a blog and providing information in your market makes you an expert in your niche. In many cases people want to get personalized advice directly from the expert in their market.
You can simply put up a page on your blog offering one-on-one coaching to answer any questions they have or give them advice for a handsome fee.
Notice that I avoided putting a specific dollar figure on the amount you can make from blogging. It will come down to your work ethic, your skills as a writer, your ability to generate targeted traffic, and plain old good luck. It’s a bit like baseball: everyone played it as a kid, only a small fraction make it to college ball, an even smaller number become professional, but only the cream of the crop makes it to the majors.
You have to decide where in the blogging “big leagues” you want to end up.
The reality is that as more and more people from all over the world come online, the harder it will become to get attention online and generate income. That's why it's so important to focus on building your email list, so you can follow up with your visitors, build a relationship and increase sales.
That being said, there are countless success stories out there, and the formula for success is surprisingly simple. It’s just up to you to get it done!
Facebook is a social media giant, best known for connecting world events (e.g. sports, politics, entertainment etc.) into a common space and giving people the power to connect with family, friends and kindred spirits around the world. From its founding in 2004, it has became the place to share experiences, knowledge and opinions about what matters to them.
Increasingly, Internet marketers are turning to Facebook to achieve their video marketing goals.What! Are you kidding, isn't YouTube the place to get video exposure? Certainly, YouTube enjoys tremendous search engine optimization (SEO) advantages and has distinct business value.  However, video in the “selfie” generation is easily integrating into social media these days. What remains to be determined is how Facebook can leverage video technology to better appeal to online entrepreneurs.
Here are the reasons why Facebook video marketing has become a viable option in such a short period.

1.  High Volume Traffic that cannot be Ignored

As the second busiest website in the United States and globally as measured by Alexa (behind Google.com), Facebook offers online entrepreneurs a super opportunity to define and pursue target audiences based on “ideal candidate” criteria. Each of Facebook's half a billion active users come into the social network with hungry eyes, even if being sold is not necessarily on their mind.
Even a short fifteen or thirty (30) second video clip can be enough to trigger interest and follow-up.
See also: 5 Simple Steps to Growing Your Business on Facebook

2. Fantastic Opportunities to go Viral

After YouTube, Facebook houses the most source referred videos on the Internet. This means that making a good impression with even a few people can mean exponential exposure via sharing in a matter of days, if not hours.Learning to market with Facebook videos can work whether your aim is educational, instructional or social (relationship-oriented).

3. Facebook Embraces Mobile Marketing

Over one-hundred fifty million people carry Facebook with them on their mobile devices, which makes it especially important to reach this active demographic whenever they go. Mobile device growth far exceeds that of desktops and laptops, making Facebook ideally positioned as a “goto” app to connect with prospects via mobile-friendly video.
See also: How to Optimize Your Email Marketing for Mobile Devices

4. Advertising Optimization for Multiple Goals

Facebook supports a number of video marketing goals that are self-contained within the website itself:
  • Boost your posts.
  • Get installs of your app.
  • Get video views.
  • Increase conversions on your website.
  • Increase engagement in your app.
  • Promote your Page.
  • Send people to your website.

5. Strong Level of Actual Face Time on Website

The average Facebook user remains on the site for over twenty-one minutes per session, and views about thirteen pages. You can take advantage of this devotion by offering valuable content that hooks visitors and encourages them to share your content with others (see above).With up to twenty (20) minutes per video, cater the length to your target audience and the type of message you want to send.

6. Visibility that Leads to More Conversions

Today, Facebook videos are visible within Google searches which adds credibility to your marketing efforts. In addition to search engine optimization (SEO) benefits, you have keyword or hashtag capabilities similar to what Twitter offers. In order to encourage visitor action, you can add triggers at strategic moments of your video presentations.
See also: 5 Ways to Get More Traffic with Twitter Advertising
Facebook video marketing can be a boon to your online business efforts, regardless of your current level of marketing experience. It is the behemoth among social media websites, offering both advertising and relationship-building chances on an ongoing basis.
Regardless of platform (desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile) Facebook deserves to be a part of your video marketing mix.
See also: How to Convert Facebook Fans into Email Subscribers
While Twitter's free options are adequate for regular users, they are not enough for online entrepreneurs looking to take their online business to a higher level. At some point, they will have to spend money to make money. If you are a serious business person, that time is probably now.
Take Twitter ads, for example. As a powerful social media platform, Twitter has gained the credibility and authority to influence people and their purchasing decisions across a wide spectrum of niches.  The beauty of Twitter advertising is that it offers the effectiveness of classical pay-per-click (PPC) advertising without the overhead (and costs) associated with competing platforms.
Here are five reasons you must invest in Twitter advertising to market your business:

1. Twitter Followers Are Active and Engaged!

Twitter advertising gives entrepreneurs a head start on goals by accelerating audience value with affordable and effective “followers” campaigns. A 2014 DB5 study entitled, “Small Business Customer Insights Study” done in conjunction with Twitter revealed that 70% of users voluntarily amplify content through retweets, and 43% planned to make multiple purchases from businesses they follow on the microblogging site.
More followers mean more customers.

2. A “Pay as You Go” Advertising Model

Increasingly, online entrepreneurs are demanding “Pay for Performance” marketing solutions that avoid front-ended, lump-sum payments.
In response, Twitter allows you to fix your advertising budget and pay for what works.
In other words, pay only when someone clicks “follow” on your ad. Once someone follows you, you’ll be able to engage with them time and time again. So, you will have multiple opportunities to connect with followers thanks to one solid ad.Hence, better alignment with your campaign goals.

3. A Simple Formula for Success

Go to Twitter and see what successful ads have in common. Essentially, they do two things:
  1. A call-to-action for people to follow them with active words and phrases like "Follow us" on the tweet.
  2. Explicitly tell the user why they should follow you. For example, a time-limited special deal.
Thanks to Twitter's analytics' dashboards, you can measure your success rate and make necessary adjustments quickly.

4. Tailored Solutions That Fit Your Goals

Instead of wasting time going after the wrong prospects, why not target the right audience the first time around?  Twitter has precise tools that let you microtarget your ideal candidate based on a wide array of meaningful criteria like:
  • Gender
  • Language
  • Geographic Location
  • @usernames
  • Keywords
  • Interests
  • Type of Device

5. Great Way to Drive Results That Grow Your Business

Twitter ads are the ideal vehicle to stimulate conversation, grow a motivated community, drive people to your website, and encourage mobile device users to install your applications.
Many people underestimate Twitter's effectiveness as a lead generation tool, but in fact, this may be its greatest business utility. Use it to send pre-qualified prospects (existing followers) and potential customers to your website and capture qualified leads. Consider one or more of the following advertising options:
  1. Promoted Tweets to reach a relevant audience likely to be interested in your products.
  2. Website Cards for campaigns geared towards getting visits to your websites.
  3. Lead Generation Cards to capture new email addresses for list-building and other marketing (e.g. lead generation) purposes.  

Final Thoughts on Twitter Advertising

Twitter ads will take your social media marketing game to a whole new level because it gives you specific business goals and criteria to aim for as you engage new people and followers within your online circle.
The business arguments for using Twitter advertising have never been stronger. Connect with your followers, build up strong relationships, understand their needs and wants, then deliver the right messages for your company's growth.
Recently, a client of mine asked if it was worth being part of the LinkedIn network.
Admittedly, I was a bit dumbstruck by the question. After all, isn't LinkedIn the preferred business-oriented social networking website of the upwardly mobile? As of mid-2013, it claimed over 178 million unique users globally, 65 million monthly users in the U.S. alone, and was heading towards 400 million global members.Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?
See Also: The Best (and Worst) Times to Post on LinkedIn
As I came to learn, he was more concerned about being stretched out over too many networks than with LinkedIn's potential value. Understandable, given the plethora of choices available to online marketers and entrepreneurs today:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Not to mention the thousands (millions?) of micro-niched websites catering to specialized fields.
So, my task was to present convincing arguments for signing up on LinkedIn. Not that I had anything specific to gain, but at the very least it got me to thinking about my own use of the site.
Here's what I came up with.

1. It's All About the Networking!

Regardless of your employment or business status, consider the LinkedIn network as a social equity investment. Being a consistent LinkedIn networker will enhance your standing amongst like-minded people in the long-term.
If you suddenly lose a job, you won't be seen as an opportunist connecting merely to take advantage of people. If you are about to launch a great product or service, it will be seen as par for the course – not a bald-faced attempt to sell.

2. Holding all the Cards

LinkedIn is crawling with recruiters looking to poach currently employed folks with lucrative offers.  Are you an entrepreneur instead? Even if you are fully committed to a nascent business, this is an ideal platform to pick up side jobs that may prove invaluable for income or enhanced networking purposes.
You can stay off LinkedIn if you want, but you will be foregoing many chances to gain valuable contacts and make more money.

3. Niche Networking within LinkedIn

One of the most overlooked and underappreciated parts of LinkedIn are the industry-specific groups that you can join.
Over the years, these groups have evolved into spirited but respectful forums of debate and information exchange, often exceeding the worth of more conventional face-to-face encounters.
Of course, not all discussion groups will be engaging and useful, so you need to use sound judgment about appropriate involvement.
In the end, you should meet like-minded professionals and business people, build alliances, and reinforce your network building skills in the process.

4. A Dynamic and Respected Resume

For most people, a resume or CV is something static, i.e. you write it once prior to your job search, get a job, then forget about it until you decide to change employers.
However, LinkedIn members are subtlety encouraged to update their profiles with important milestones.
This way, recruiters and potential partners already have a good idea about you – and you don't have to frantically scramble to update your accomplishments. A dynamic win-win for all concerned... 

5. LinkedIn Gives You a Trending News Feed

LinkedIn allows you to customize your news feed according to your chosen industry, preferred article preferences, and the interests of people in your network. As a result, you can use it as a customized database of business knowledge – leaving aside extraneous, time-wasting feeds for leisure time, if at all.
Using this aspect of LinkedIn in particular taps you into what is trending amongst your peers, and clues you into what they are thinking about on a near real-time basis.
See more social media marketing tips and strategies here.
In a previous article we looked at 5 Pinterest marketing tips to get more traffic to your website. Pinterest is a website where you can upload and organize images (pins) into grouped collections known as pinboards. Now, we will continue on that theme by showcasing more ways for you to enhance your brand and reputation with effective Pinterest marketing methods.

1. Working Around Affiliate Marketing Limitations on PinterestIn early 2015


Pinterest management decide to ban affiliate links, redirects and trackers on pins. This was done to keep the website's smooth and relatively fast operation, especially with respect to rich pins (see below). In addition, the new policy was implemented to counter spammy behavior, broken links and irrelevant feeds.
Serious affiliate marketers are directed to Pinterest's Acceptance Use Policy to continue monetizing their efforts on the website. However, in the meantime, here are some suggestions:
  • Use your blog as an intermediate medium between Pinterest and your affiliate pages. Unless otherwise notified, it should be acceptable to place your blog's URL on a pin. This way, you shield affiliate links away from Pinterest, and can continue marketing as usual without significantly altering your approach.
  •  On the blog, write affiliate product reviews, solicit comments and testimonials and include a strong call to action (i.e. salesletter-style “Buy” button).
​This is really a best practice no matter where you are marketing. Use the marketing platform to drive traffic back to your website; there you can build your email list, and make a lot more money by following up and promoting multiple products and services to your list.
See Also: 3 Simple Ways to Make Money Blogging

2. Getting Traffic from Pinterest by Pinning Re-shared Pins

Recent changes to Pinterest's “Smart Feed” algorithm has raised fears within the user community that it will become harder to get exposure for their images. However, there are tactics that will continue to work and help grow your list of followers and general audience:
A. Pinning popular images: Do a search within Pinterest in your chosen niche with popular words.  Select the best twenty-five or so images that give your board sufficient breath and creates an aura of expertise for future visitors. Then track their pin count and check if they have active blogs. Choose 5-10 blog feeds to follow and subscribe to, and if possible connect personally with the authors.
By pinning the best and most popular blog articles, your Pin board should be considered “popular” itself by Pinterest and allow you to be found by hundreds if not thousands of visitors every month.
This idea of "social sharing" initially seems counter-intuitive to those who are newer to social media marketing; but when you share other people's content and not just your own, you can actually reach more people and attract more people to your own property online.
B. Keeping your account active: You won't necessarily grow your followers ('Likes') and re-pins at a constant rate, but consistently building up images will enable you to take advantage of other people's success in an ethical way.In addition, tools like LinkWithin and Viralwoot, which will offer users analytics and promotes pins, are starting to appear. 
The more active you are, whether you are promoting your own images or other people's images, the more activity you will see on your own account.
See Also: 5 Steps to Facebook Marketing Success

3. Improve Your Pinterest Pin Board Diversity

Sometimes being too focused on your specific niche can limit your growth possibilities on Pinterest.  Granted, your business-specific channel should promote your brand and display your expertise. However, consider making boards with slightly unrelated topics can draw a more diversified audience that, in the long-term, may also find your main business appealing.
For example, if you are a certified fitness professional, chances are that you have reasonable nutrition knowledge as well.
Therefore, in addition to pins that highlight workouts for various types of goals, physiques, sports etc. you may want to consider creating aboard for pre-workout and  post-workout meals. The synergy between physical fitness and nutrition is well-established, but there are many possibilities with other niche groupings (e.g. visual art and architecture; environment causes and ethical investing, etc.).
Another opportunity is to create boards that are unrelated to your business entirely but reflect your own personal hobbies and interests. This is a good way to put some personality into your marketing and develop a more personal bond with your audience.
See Also: Discover the Most Profitable Niches for Affiliate Marketing

Pinterest Marketing Conclusion

Pinterest's great strength lies with the immediate, positive impact it can make on large numbers of prospects and viewers in a relatively small amount of time. As a relatively new social media marketing medium, members continue to experiment with different approaches within visual marketing.
The bottom line is that people love visual content. It's easy to create, gets a lot of attention, and can drive massive amounts of traffic to your website.
Explore various possibilities to better serve your audience and find more Pinterest marketing tips here.
See more social media marketing tips, tricks, and strategies here.
Pinterest is arguably the premier visual social media marketing website for Internet marketing today. Its simple to use pinning features allows entrepreneurs to build a community of like-minded people by offering them images, photos and infographics that can really make a difference in their lives.
If you are a certified fitness professional or athletic trainer, Pinterest is especially well-suited for you.The health and fitness niche is one of the most lucrative niche markets in the world, and if you can integrate a strong online campaign with your work in the gym, it can mean:
  • An enhanced reputation with current clients, colleagues and gym management.
  • Growing your personal customer base as an independent consultant (in-home).
  • More attention from fitness and health bloggers, traditional media outlets.
  • Motivational speaking and other live event appearances.
There is no mystery for succeeding with Pinterest. Breaking down the main components of fitness pins will guarantee you great feedback and inspire you to extend beyond pre-defined job functions.
See Also: How to Enhance Your Business Brand on Pinterest

1. A Strong Goal-Oriented Headline

A successful Pin starts at the top, so think about a short but punchy headline that speaks to the fitness goals sought out by your readers.
“Burn more fat faster than ever.”, “Bodyweight exercises for business travelers”, and “7 Killer Abs Exercises” are examples of goal-oriented headlines that will bring in a targeted audience ready to view your solutions for specific fitness goals.
Once hooked, you can offer people the necessary infographics and images to get them started with building muscle, losing fat, gaining strength or something else.

2. Sub-headline Follow-up

Quite often, everyone will come with the same cliched fitness-related headlines re. weight loss, hypertrophy, muscle mass gain etc.That's why a snappy subheading is often the necessary trigger for views, pins, and re-pins.
Let's take one example:
Bodyweight exercises for business travelers
             Forget the gym, lose your gut in the hotel room.
The underlined subheading, “Forget the gym, lose your gut in the hotel room”, reinforces the benefits that people will presumably derive from your fitness pin, namely:
  • No need for a gym or gym equipment (other than possibly free weights).
  • Time savings.
  • Getting lean and toned with the highlighted exercise sequence.

3. Text Descriptions with Physical Illustrations

Do a clear write-up of the exercise and break them up into demo images as required (e.g. Step A, Step B etc.). If part of the exercise requires special attention and deserves to be highlighted, add a separate image to showcase it (e.g. starting position, midway position, ending position).
This presentation technique can be employed for one exercise, a series of related exercises (arms, back, legs, abdomen), or military-style circuits like the famous Spartacus Workout.

4. Attractive Color Schemes

You want to be noticed on Pinterest, and using the right colors can help you in that vain. Black, red and yellow are among the most popular colors used in the fitness niche, but there are no hard and fast rules to follow.Try things out, and remember that plain white can be your best friend if you need to write more detailed exercise descriptions.

5. Link Back to Your Own Website

While some of your pins may be self-sustaining as a workout or workout advice for your readers, you should link back to your own self-hosted blog or website. This gives people further opportunity to judge your expertise and decide if they will know, like, and trust you moving forward. Chances are that they will connect to you in some manner once they see that you are a serious fitness professional. In addition to Pinterest communication, they may sign up for your email newsletter, or bookmark your blog for future reference.
See Also: 5 Pinterest Marketing Tips to Get More Traffic to Your Website

Finals Thoughts on Pinterest Marketing for Fitness Professionals

Pinterest gives both established and upcoming fitness trainers the same chance at online success, provided they deliver advice and exercise themes that relate to their audiences needs' and desires.
Use your creativity and physical fitness insights to expand your audience and grow your personal brand.
See all of our social media marketing tips, tricks, and strategies here.
 
Retirement has traditionally been viewed as a season of life when you can relax and enjoy yourself after a long career in the workforce. For some that vision includes spending time with family and friends, travel, volunteering, or even working part-time. That's the retirement dream.
Unfortunately, a lot of people put off planning for retirement and the possibility of achieving financial independence is difficult to imagine. The retirement reality is that only 69 percent of workers feel that they and/or their spouse have saved enough money for retirement. According to the latest Retirement Confidence Survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Mathew Greenwald & Associates, only about 6 out of 10 workers and/or their spouses have saved anything for retirement.
Retirement can be a very challenging season of life for anyone who fails to save. Without enough of a retirement nest egg, you could find yourself saying "so long" to your dream retirement and hello to an extended working career. Worse yet, you could spend your retirement worrying about money and experiencing financial stress.
The good news is the ability to live comfortably during your retirement years is largely within your own control. With a little planning and a solid foundation of financial wellness, working forever doesn't have to be your retirement reality!
Here are some actions you can take today to make the process of reaching those retirement goals feel a little more achievable:




Man with a bike in front of a mountain.

Set your retirement goals.

In order to set a personalized retirement plan, it is important to create your own unique definition of what retirement means to you. Start by asking yourself the following questions:
  • When would you ideally like to retire?
  • What do you look forward to the most?
  • How many years do you expect to live in retirement (i.e., what is your life expectancy)?
  • What lifestyle do you want when you retire?
  • What monthly income will you need during retirement to maintain my current lifestyle?
  • Which income sources are available (Social Security, pension, 401(k), investment earnings, home equity, etc.) to fund your retirement?
  • How many years do you have left to save?
  • How will you spend your time in retirement?
When setting your retirement goals try to put them in writing. As you create your written plan try focus on the things you can control such as how much to save and where to invest it. A written retirement plan will help you track your progress over time. But this shouldn’t be a set and forget it process. Be sure to monitor your plan and adjust as necessary.

Figure out if you are saving enough.

According to a recent survey from Financial Finesse, only about half of workers have taken the time to calculate how much retirement savings they will likely need in retirement. You can use your retirement goals as a guide to determine if you are saving enough. If your planned retirement age is more than ten years away, it’s okay to simply target a percentage of your current income as a retirement goal. Many financial planners recommend trying to replace around 80 percent of your current salary to maintain the same comfortable lifestyle during retirement.
Older couple reading papers together on sofa

As you get closer to retirement, use the Budget Planning for Retirement worksheet to estimate your retirement expenses. 
To determine if you are on the right track to meet your retirement goals, use a retirement calculator. In order to make sure you aren't missing any important details you should gather the following information:
  • Most recent statements and/or current account balances for all retirement accounts, including employer-sponsored retirement plans (401(k), 403(b), pension plans, etc.) and IRAs.
  • Total planned contribution amounts to be made each year into your retirement accounts.
  • Anticipated inflation rate and average annual rate of return expectations that will be used in the calculations.
  • Desired and acceptable income levels during your retirement years.
  • Estimate your future income from Social Security (Social Security retirement estimator).
A variety of retirement calculators and estimator tools are available to help you figure out if your retirement plan is on the right path or if there is a shortfall.Just remember that if your results aren't exactly as you planned there are steps you can take to improve your outlook. The key is to at least have the awareness of where you stand today. It's also a good idea to run another retirement estimate at least once per year.

Choose the right type of accounts to save for your retirement (and help your money grow).

Asset “location” is an important aspect of the retirement planning. There are a variety of retirement savings options to help you save for your dream retirement. It is obvious that saving for retirement is so important that Uncle Sam is willing to provide tax advantages for saving in specific retirement accounts (like IRAs, 401(k), 403(b) and 457 plans). Here is a brief summary of the main type of retirement accounts to consider.
Employer-sponsored retirement plans (401k, 403b, 457, etc). Many financial experts suggest that your company retirement plan can be one of your best investments. There are some valid reasons why this should be the first place to begin your retirement savings journey.

  1. Contributions are made on a pre-tax basis so they directly reduce your taxable income. And they also grow tax-deferred, meaning that you won’t pay taxes on the gains until you are ready to withdraw the funds.
  2. It is rarely wise to leave behind any free money so don’t miss out on employer matching contributions! The majority of companies offer matching programs that can enhance the return on your money. To benefit from an employer match, make sure you are contributing at least up to the company match, but don’t feel like you must stop there. The average employer contribution amount is around 3 percent. However, is generally recommended you should strive to save between 10 and 20 percent of your income for long-term goals like retirement.
  3. Employer-sponsored plans are becoming more portable. This means they can be transferred without tax consequences into an IRA or to a future employer’s retirement plan through a rollover.  
  4. Roth account options are becoming more prevalent within employer-sponsored retirement plans. If you do not need to lower your taxable income or see yourself being in a higher income tax bracket during retirement, consider making Roth contributions.
Check out Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). If your employer does not offer a 401(k) or similar retirement plan, you may be eligible to fund a deductible traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Whether or not your employer offers a retirement plan, it isn’t your only investment option when it comes to saving for retirement. You may be eligible to fund a tax-deferred traditional IRA or a tax-free Roth IRA. IRAs are another great way to sock money away for the future. Some income limits and other restrictions apply in order to deduct the contribution or to contribute to a Roth IRA. So make sure that you are choosing the best IRA for your situation and remember you can always contribute to both if you are not quite sure.
Consider Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Health savings accounts provide excellent tax benefits for out-of-pocket health care expenses. They may also be used as a supplemental source of retirement income.
Discover retirement plan options for entrepreneurs and the self-employed. If you are self-employed or own a very small business with a few employees, you have the ability to setup self-employed retirement plans that could make it easier to save for retirement and reduce your taxes along the way.
  • SEP IRA
  • SIMPLE IRA
  • Solo 401(k) Plan
  • Keogh Plans
Insurance and Annuities. A variety of different insurance and annuity products exist these days that can be used as part of a well-structured retirement income plan. For example, annuities offer tax-deferred growth and income.
Taxable investment accounts. While tax-deferred investment accounts are usually the first place to start with tax-smart investing, taxable accounts have some benefits. The flexibility to use funds for a variety of reasons is one benefit. Another is the ability to take advantage of tax loss harvesting and low capital gains rates when using tax efficient investments. You can also look at municipal bonds for tax-free income.

Review how your money is invested.

You're not going to get too far with your savings plan if you put your money into a savings account, money market fund or other "safe" place than you would if you buried your money in the ground or hid your cash under a mattress. In fact, these supposedly safe options are actually subject to a significant risk known as inflation which will put a major drag on the purchasing power of a dollar over time. In other words, after taxes are paid on your investment earnings, you'll be able to buy less with your money when you retire than you can today.
How you choose to allocate your assets across different investment types can significantly impact your ability to reach your retirement goals. You have to do some self-assessment to determine what asset allocation works best for your particular situation. For example, you could start by assessing your investor risk tolerance. You can compare your current asset allocation with asset allocation models consistent with your risk tolerance and time horizon. Then, you will want to determine if you prefer a "hands on" or a more "hands off" approach to investing. Hands-off retirement investors may prefer the ease and convenience of target date retirement funds or pre-mixed asset allocation portfolios. Another important decision is whether you prefer an active vs. passive style of management.

Make it easier by creating a plan you can easily follow.

Saving for retirement isn’t a one-time event, it’s a lifelong process of creating good habits. The more you can do to simplify your retirement plan the easier it will be to stay on the right course.
The Periscope apps for iOS (Apple) and Google Android were released in spring 2015, ushering in a new era of accessible video streaming, live broadcasts via mobile, and social networking. Or as they say, seeing the world through someone else's eyes.
After inventing the Periscope concept and raising the money to develop their ideas, founders Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein sold their company to Twitter in January 2015.A few months later, Periscope announced that it had over ten (10) million accounts (“Scopers”) and was responsible for forty (40) years worth of video being viewed on a daily basis.
What are the implications of Periscope use for your traffic generation and social media marketing strategy? In this article, we explore some of the most relevant ways business can use Periscope.

Promoting Your Business on Periscope

The Periscope application is slowly gaining traction with online entrepreneurs looking to add 'Likes', followers, and prospects. Some simple tips to implement include:
  • Adding your URL in your profile or bio. Make your URL easy to remember, because it will be easier to promote – even beyond Twitter!
  • In your Periscope bio, mention what you intend to scope about, so that visitors can easily judge if you'll have what they are looking for.
  • Link your call-to-action (CTA) and/or offers to each individual scope. Don't forget to mention free downloads or your latest blog title, not simply a request to visit your website.
  • Direct people to yourwebsite.com/periscope so that visitors can easily follow your scopes on a regular basis.

Embrace the Concept of Social Media Sharing

Periscope presents entrepreneurs with a whole new way of sharing that's quite frankly revolutionary.  Present your video content in an appealing manner, one that is authentic and transfers useful information and knowledge to your visitors.Like rival Snapchat, Periscope video uploads only stay uploaded for a maximum of twenty-four (24) hours.
Since scopes are real-life events, you can easily inspire complete strangers to latch onto your voyage of discovery, and subsequently you gain prospects, customers, and even friends.
Full integration with iOS within Twitter
On December 9, 2015, Apple gave Periscope a huge boost by naming it its iPhone App of the Year.  Thanks to its parent company ties, a user can watch streamed video or broadcasts without leaving the Twitter application (note: ideally, online broadcast capability should soon also be coming to Android soon).
This opens up possibilities for traffic generation that rival opportunities on far more established platforms. Broadcasters can now reach Twitter audiences with real-time streaming video, and visitors to your feed can eagerly look forward to rich home timelines, search results, and even friends who are willing to share “Periscopes”.
Tell Your Business Story as it Evolves!
Periscope gives you the opportunity to take storytelling to a whole new level. Instead of being restricted to static forms of communication like plain text, standard tweets, salesletters,and images (or even emojis!) take advantage of short video clips to highlight relevant aspects of your business activity.
Depending on your ideal target audience, you can fine tune your message and accept near real-time feedback to get a better sense of what viewers want.
Final Thoughts on Periscope Marketing Strategy
Entrepreneurs from a variety of fields can use Periscope to brand themselves and their company with novel postings that make them appear more alive from a distance. People who have signed on cannot help but marvel at the organic nature of its traffic-generating capacity.
Although real-time streaming can be (and has been) abused in some cases, Periscope via Twitter remains another vital step in the user-driven digital revolution that is breaking down technological, social, and even economic barriers to change.