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A Social Media Tip for Small Businesses

A Social Media Tip for Small Businesses

by on February 16, 2011 · 41 comments

As the internet is pushing its limits, businesses are getting more exposure online. With the boom of social media, it is now easier for business to go viral and promote their services and products. When we talk about social media, the next thing that comes to mind is Facebook and Twitter. Twitter is important and business friendly some times more than Facebook.

I heard a while back that this is no delete option on social media; what you submit is there in the universe of social media forever. That’s true!

Real Time Indexing

Google and other search engines like Bing operate in real time, and whatever you type gets crawled by their search engines with even less than a minute.

Test:

social media tips for small business

Test Image 1.1


If you clearly look at the image 1 you will see that the tweet has been submitted on twitter less than 10 seconds ago.

social media tips for small businesses

Test Image 1.2


Take a look at image 2 and you will see that Google real time search crawled the same tweet within one minute.

Things small business should care about!

The purpose of this test is to tell you that social media is open and that you can write whatever you want. However, one thing that every business, especially small business, should remember is that once you tweet or submit any content on facebook the information is permanently in cyberspace. If you have or any plan to use social media in your marketing strategies, make sure your content is proof read, contains no liabilities, and passes other verifications. People do make mistakes, but in social media, you have a very limited margin for making mistakes.

I am not against social media strategies for businesses - in fact, I think they can make a real difference in your business, but one should be very careful while being online. One wrong tweet/post can hurt your business reputation.

Article by Moosa Hemani

Moosa Hemani is a SEO and working for a fastest growing Web Hosting company offer services like VPS, Dedicated Server and more.

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{ 41 comments… read them below or add one }

Kyle O June 19, 2011 at 6:43 pm

Thanks for the tips on how to index via Twitter! I was always under the impression they were no follow links, but this makes it a bit easier to obtain steady traffic.

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Kabalyero April 15, 2011 at 12:39 pm

I tried the Tweeter thing but Google never caught my Tweet but it did catch it when I shared the info on other Social/Bookmarking sites like TheWebBlend, SheToldMe, etc.

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Aybi March 30, 2011 at 4:47 am

No wonder why twitter marketing is now the most effective way in generating massive traffic going to a site.
Aybi recently posted..Importance of Social MediaMy Profile

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Kabalyero April 15, 2011 at 12:45 pm

Well, it’s a double-edged sword. Twitter advertising maybe effective but your followers won’t like it and may start unfollowing you if you bombard them with it. Heck, even once a day is too often for some Twitter followers.

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Daniel February 23, 2011 at 5:52 am

It would be interesting to see figures for the amount of people who are using real time search. I use it as I’m in the industry that is alert to things like that, but I’m not sure how many of the population as a whole use it.

I think it’s excellent for news articles and can be very helpful for SEO purposes.
Daniel recently posted..IMS Group Welcome PageMy Profile

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Moosa Hemani February 23, 2011 at 3:12 pm

Great Point Daniel and i really want someone to raise this. You are right that not much people are using real time search but if you take a look at the development in the field of real time search and keeping the SEO London’s day 2 in mind i can surly say that future of search and search engine is very much dependent on real time data.

besides this for some trends i have seen Google showing the real time data in regular search (may be Google is testing it) but i am very positive about the fact that real time search is not only for SEOs but more and more people from different niche will get in to this really soon.

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Kabalyero April 15, 2011 at 12:43 pm

I also often use real-time search because, most of the time, normal search will give you out-dated search results which are no longer relevant to what you are searching.

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Wasim Ismail
Twitter:
February 22, 2011 at 3:59 am

Great Examples Moosa, Real time search and Socail media is becoming huge, just last week Google announced on its Blog that they are going to display Socail Media results even more, and they will be displayed throughout the search results. Also they are interlinking with social media in a bigger way then before.
Read more at Google Blog: http://goo.gl/YhDut
Wasim Ismail recently posted..How Hosting Affects Your Website Page RankMy Profile

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Bryan February 21, 2011 at 5:34 am

Hey Moosa,

I’ve known about Google Realtime quite a while ago. Back when Brisbane had the big floods, news got onto social media faster than the newspapers and the big online publishing companies could write anything. I think the Egyptian uprising, is also testimony to the viral nature of social media and yes, whatever that you type online will come up on search engines permanently!
Bryan recently posted..Premium Squeeze Page Templates – An Alternative to OptimizePressMy Profile

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Kabalyero from FreePlayMMO April 15, 2011 at 12:48 pm

Newspaper? Seriously? I’ve never bought a newspaper in years. LOL!

There is absolutely no reason too. ;)

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Juliemarg February 20, 2011 at 3:21 pm

I’ve read that Google is implementing quality scores on Twitter, the same way they do with a website (pagerank) – If your score is high, your tweets are much more likely to get into the SERPs. So don’t be a spammer!
Juliemarg recently posted..Page Rank – What is itMy Profile

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Moosa Hemani February 20, 2011 at 9:23 pm

Nice point… yes this quality score will be great introduction in order to reduce the amount of spam on twitter and other social medias… but i still have so many questions as i feel this will not be fair for many small businesses who don’t give much time on twitter but i think we should wait and see what this new social media quality score brings…

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Nick February 20, 2011 at 9:58 am

Interesting test.
I hope everyone understands that this does not mean it is a good idea to repeatedly tweet the same thing to try to stay near the top of the search results. I have noticed an increase of repetitive TweetSpam lately. Mindless spamming is what is destroying the usefulness of search engines – both for users and for marketing. Let’s all use social media responsibly and remember what it is for – making useful or meaningful connections. Relentless spamming will make your business and your website useless and meaningless.
Nick recently posted..Complete Web Presence ManagementMy Profile

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Mavis Nong
Twitter:
February 18, 2011 at 9:51 am

Hi Moosa,

Thanks for this great tip. I had no idea, Twitter was being crawled so fast by Google!

All the best,
Mavis
Mavis Nong recently posted..Is Your Blog Repelling or Attracting Visitors It’s Time For Reality Check…My Profile

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Priya February 18, 2011 at 2:54 am

I know twitter is a great plateform for online promotion but I had no idea that twitter is being crawled so quickly by google. Really amazed to see. Thanks for sharing your knowledge Moosa!!!
Priya recently posted..Goa Carnival Date 2011 5th to 8th MarchMy Profile

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Moosa Hemani February 18, 2011 at 7:19 am

Oh yes! Priya Google is getting smarter and breathing area for spammers to stay in the search industry is getting thinner…

I my self find Google Real time search as a great tool…
Moosa Hemani recently posted..mmhemani- The Power of Unique Product Descriptions http-tco-gGQ2uni &lt&lt Nice comparison of Online and Offline MarketingMy Profile

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Dennis Edell February 17, 2011 at 10:43 pm

Most excellent advice. There have been many unwise folks over the past couple years that should have read something like this…like all those getting fired from jobs for being stupid on facebook. ;-)
Dennis Edell recently posted..73 Posts Published – Have I Seen Your Smile On All Of ThemMy Profile

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Fabrizio February 17, 2011 at 6:08 pm

Wow that test is amazing, I knew that the search engines crawled social media links however certainly not at this speed though, great post thanks, will come in very useful.
Fabrizio recently posted..BlueHost… Probably the best Hosting Company in the World!My Profile

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Gregg Zban February 17, 2011 at 5:34 pm

WOW Moosa! I had no idea that Google index tweets that fast and that they are part of the cyber world permanently. Great information to know. Thanks.
Gregg
The Guru Hub
Gregg Zban recently posted..Do You Need More Protection For Your Google AccountMy Profile

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Alex February 17, 2011 at 4:44 pm

This makes us conscious of how every word we write can influence or standing later on. Having an unprofessional behavior early on, will most likely impact you later when people will have available all the information you ever submitted to social networks.

Also because this are social networks, people will most likely write something about you, and if you have bad customer support, you do something wrong to them and they tweet something wrong about you then that will remain there for life , even if their problem will be resolved(or at least until twitter will exist) and will most likely impact some of your possible clients which will read it and stay away from you.

So better watch for this permanent messages, because their almost like life, you can’t erase your past.
Alex recently posted..Carat apa 3DMy Profile

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Moosa Hemani February 17, 2011 at 6:20 pm

Hey Alex you raised almost an important point… customer service…yeah you have to be careful in your over all business and if somebody tweet something bad about your business due to your bad customer service… there are ways you can handle it…. talk to them and resolve the matter.

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Steve
Twitter:
February 17, 2011 at 11:47 am

YOu make a very important point. Social Media strategies are great, but doing it “wrong” can hurt you as much as doing it “right’ can help. IN a world where, “everything” is out there the bad is as important as the good
Steve recently posted..Get More Blog Traffic Blueprint Week 14My Profile

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Extreme John February 17, 2011 at 8:48 am

Wow that turn around time was much faster than I thought it would be. Nice tip and something I will try to exploit within my small business model of indoor tanning salons.
Extreme John recently posted..6 Ways I Use SKYPE for My BusinessMy Profile

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Moosa Hemani February 17, 2011 at 6:24 pm

em glad you liked it John.

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Fran Aslam From Onlinewriter
Twitter:
February 17, 2011 at 7:31 am

Moosa:

Nice post you have here. I know we all get carried away. But once written and clicked it is on the web to spread information we sent, if it is not right, it is there to create a false and unreal credibility, that can create problems at times. I learned this the hard way, once I was writing a tweet one word was misspelled that I noticed after click to go. I grabbed fast to get back the tweet…and twitter said it will not undo, It is gone.

Moosa you have a great post and it is a great reminder to be careful.

Make it an awesome day for yourself.

Fran a
Fran Aslam From Onlinewriter recently posted..Web Portfolio for Freelance WritersMy Profile

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Robert Dempsey from Internet Marketing Strategies February 17, 2011 at 7:29 am

Nice quick tip Moosa. I remember when marketers were asking each other what the “rules of social media” were, which I thought was funny. The rules are the same only more important – if you don’t want everyone to know about it, don’t say it online, especially social media.

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Moosa Hemani February 17, 2011 at 6:07 pm

You got it right Robert… In terms of social media its almost the same you don’t want it then don’t speak about it…. Thats true.

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Mike February 17, 2011 at 4:30 am

I’m really not sure about your test up there. Did you create the tweet and then test the result with Google with one computer? Do you try to create tweet in one computer and then search at another completely different computer?

Sometimes, Google stores your personal info just to improve the search and towards some degrees, it’s unnecessary behavior wanted by the Internet marketers :)
Mike recently posted..Rank trackingMy Profile

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Moosa Hemani February 17, 2011 at 6:04 pm

Mike the images i took are of the same computer but i bet this is not the personalized result and real time search actually crawl the tweet within a minute only i have tried this thing on different computers as well…

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Jeffrey Gross February 17, 2011 at 2:46 am

Very nice post Moosa, we all know the importance of social medias in todays world. i have been working hard and using Facebook as the main media to promote my business, and trust me the results have been far better than expected. i never really focused on twitter too much. actually it depends on how better you are able to use any specific media.
Jeffrey Gross recently posted..Choosing The Right Keywords For Your SEO Campaign 1-3My Profile

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Hung Hong
Twitter:
February 17, 2011 at 1:29 am

When we go to Google and search, if we look at the end of first page, we will see a link that show information form twitter.This position is very nice.
Hung Hong recently posted..Share Youtube Video With Affiliate LinkMy Profile

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Moosa Hemani February 17, 2011 at 2:11 am

Thank you Hung for your kind words… oh yes Google is smart so now we have to be a bit more conscious while posting anything on social media platforms.

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Vijayraj Reddy
Twitter:
February 17, 2011 at 1:28 am

Google is so fast that our posts and tweets are indexed in real time and we should use it properly so that we get maximum visitors…
Vijayraj Reddy recently posted..Hot to Make Money Online from Affiliate Sales using BlogMy Profile

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Patricia
Twitter:
February 16, 2011 at 9:54 pm

Hi Moosa

Very important point you make here. What is out there can stay out there and have an impact on your business and also your personal relationships. Should be careful what we tweet, write and I am often surprised at what is shared on-line!

It is just as easy to be kind to others and treat everyone the way we would like to be treated. That’s how I run my business and if we reflect out personalities in our business practices it will soon be known that we have integrity. Can only be positive and surely that’s what we want to show whether we are on social media or our own site?!

Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia recently posted..Collaboration- the new buzz wordMy Profile

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James Johnston
Twitter:
February 16, 2011 at 7:38 pm

I new real time was pretty fast, but I thought it was a little slower than what your results show. This is great news and I can see where this can come in handy for some businesses.

I agree with about what you post on Twitter and Facebook, if you say the wrong the thing this can hurt you, your company, and friends. Even if you are not in a position where what you say can effect your work, be respectful to you friends, it may hurt them. Once say it,its out in cyberspace, you can’t take it back. Its out there forever.
James Johnston recently posted..Blog Engage Offers Premium RSS SyndicationMy Profile

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TJ McDowell
Twitter:
February 16, 2011 at 5:12 pm

I think there’s a balance between having a healthy respect for the web and being scared of it though, don’t you? Unless you waste way too much time proofreading, you’re going to have mistakes. In my opinion, you don’t have to lay awake at night worried about whether you made a typo, but I think you definitely should think before writing – just like you should think before speaking in real life.
TJ McDowell recently posted..Photography Personality Profile Beta TestingMy Profile

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Moosa Hemani February 16, 2011 at 5:30 pm

To some extent you are right TJ… but i guess the margin of making mistakes is low.

Obviously i dont mean to think all the time of what you write and is there any typo error or not… but the competition is tough now… customer have a choice and he will go for the best.

Let take an example… there was a webdesign company who launched some new offer called ‘New launch offer’ instead of Launch the typo error was ‘lunch’ now think from the customers point of view and see if it is ok for you..i don’t think so!!

what i mean here is before posting anything on the social media just read it twice before making it live as there is no way you cal delete things permanently

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Darren Scott Monroe February 17, 2011 at 2:54 am

Hey Moosa good points and I agree with TJ. PS were you doing that last line on purpose? There is some irony there
“there is no way you cal delete things permanently”

Did you mean ?
“there is no way you CAN or COULD delete things permanently”

I am not making fun of you sir just thought it a strange irony s I mess up things often LOL
Darren Scott Monroe recently posted..The Strangest Secret About Niche MarketingMy Profile

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Moosa Hemani February 16, 2011 at 4:19 pm

Thanks Morgan for your comment. Oh yes! you are right for like minded tweets real time search by Google really works and i think its very effective for small businesses who need some strong communication with other people from the same niche.

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Rick February 16, 2011 at 4:18 pm

Good article, I am still trying to figure out how I can leverage real time search in my own projects. Most of my personal stuff right now is very fringe type content but this has so many interesting possibilities.

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Morgan February 16, 2011 at 4:02 pm

I love real time! Not manner people even know of it, so I’m REALLY glad you posted about this! I check real time quite a bit to find like-minded tweets. :) It’s quite effective! Thanks for this!
Morgan recently posted..WHAT You don’t have a Facebook Page!My Profile

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