http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

Log in if not already logged in > Click Submit > Okay > DO NOT access your account within 14 days or it will be activated again.

See below/

1. Click Submit

2. Click OK – Do not access your account for 14 days

However, it soon became apparent to savvy, forward-thinking businesses that these sites could be utilized as promotional tools for their products and services. And with this, social media marketing was born.

As a result of this realization, the manner in which businesses communicate and interact with their customers has been completely transformed. And if you’re not following suit, your business is missing out on a huge amount of potential custom.

So if you have an online business (or an offline one for that matter), it’s absolutely crucial that you sign up for both a Facebook and Twitter account at the very least. These are the most widely used social media sites available, and therefore the most powerful resources.

Get Friends & Followers!

By signing up to these sites, you’ll be able to give your business greater exposure online, and post information about your products and services, such as discounts, 2-for-1 offers and new releases, to name just a few.

And if you post useful and good quality content that provides value for the reader, then more and more people will “follow” you (in Twitter’s case) or become a “friend” (on Facebook), which will help you to build positive, long-term relationships with customers who might not have previously found you.

Naturally, the more friends and followers you have, the more potential customers you’ll be able to promote to, and this is where social media marketing can be so profitable.

After all, you’ll be able to search for people in YOUR niche who might be interested in YOUR products, and then look to befriend people who follow them, thus pulling in more and more targeted prospects that you might be able to promote to in the future.

Improve Public Relations

Another great advantage of using social media marketing is that it allows you to follow what’s being said about your products and services, and react to any negative news flow. So if any complaints or negative comments appear on your pages (or your customers’ pages), you can head them off and deal with them before they get out of hand, and before they begin to damage your company and its reputation.

This ability to monitor what’s being said about you and your business, and respond positively, is absolutely crucial to your long-term success.

The fact is, the growth of the internet has made it incredibly easy for people to post derogatory remarks about individuals and companies, knowing that these comments will reach a huge audience, very quickly. So spotting these comments, and dealing with them in a professional and positive manner can be very beneficial in terms of PR.

Be Alert

And talking about monitoring what’s being said about you, here are two fantastic tools that will enable you to do just that.

Google Alerts – All you need to do here is type in a relevant search phrase (such as your business name or the name of your product, for example) and whenever that phrase is mentioned online, you’ll be sent an email telling you when and where it was found.

Social Mention – Similarly, this social media search and analysis tool will send you an email alert every time your chosen phrase is mentioned online, enabling you to keep up to speed with what’s being said about you and your business! For both of these tools, I’ve requested an alert every time my business name, My Freelance Copywriter.com, is mentioned.

Again, this is great if someone has posted something uncomplimentary about one of your products, your business, or you personally, as it enables you to spot it quickly and deal with the issue before any negative press circulates and grows.

So if you want to expand your business and reach more customers, make sure you sign up to some social media marketing sites like Facebook and Twitter, and use others like Google Alerts and Social Mention to keep track of what people are saying about you and your business.

If you do, you’ll have more customers, better communication, an improved online PR machine, and ultimately more money in your bank account!

About the Author: Nick Cobb is a freelance copywriter, online marketing consultant and the founder and Managing Director of Write For You Ltd, a copywriting agency based in London. His principal website; http://myfreelancecopywriter.com provides general copywriting services to domestic and international businesses, both large and small, while his sister site, http://redhotsalesletters.com, is dedicated to producing profit-pulling sales copy for online marketers.

The best defense is of course a good offense. Providing consistent company information and keeping engaged with your community can go a long way towards building and retaining loyalty even under attack.

But what happens when your brand is targeted from competitors, political or environmental groups and the negative impacts begin to take on a life of their own?

The first rule is to remain calm! Do not respond immediately, do not try to stop the discussions.

Read through all of the comments and take the necessary time to thoroughly understand the issue or issues being raised. Research within and beyond your company and gather factual, accurate information about the true situation. Honesty and accuracy are your best weapons.

Once you have all of the facts it is important to be transparent. Do not defend your brand but do offer up accurate, factual information for those who wish to learn more. You may want to create a special page on your website that includes factual information and links to other documents or public information including better business ratings, the company guide to business conduct, ethical practices statements, public financial records etc. about your company that would get the real facts circulated.

If you discover there is a partial truth contained within the lies admit any error on the part of your brand. Stress that the company wants to be responsive to their community’s concerns and takes them seriously. Follow that up with what steps your company is taking to deal with the issues and remedy the situation. Keep your community informed regarding your progress.

Another option to counteract incorrect or false information about your brand is to consider providing a special phone number (hotline) community members can call for additional information.

The goal of such steps is merely to provide open, factual information and allow your community to see that your brand is committed to transparency for their constituents.

Make certain that the reputations of your employees who are responsible for social media within your company are spotless-personally and professionally. You want your brand represented by professional, ethical, honest and caring people.

Anyone that does not rise to this level of professionalism should be reassigned away from any social media activity on behalf of the company.

Always put your best face forward in social media. You do not want to provide detractors with any ammunition they can use against you.

Rely on your loyal customers and fans to help set the record straight. Know and develop strong relationships with your influencers and customers. Let them help you balance the playing field by posting related positive comments and links to information that addresses the facts of an issue. If they have a personal experience that contradicts the issue being raised encourage them to share it.

If negativity is high it may be a good time to add additional video testimonials to your site or a video that addresses current events affecting your company. This provides yet another way of providing disseminating factual information to the community indirectly without posting anything defensive on social platforms.

Some of the things you must avoid are postings that appear to be defensive – regardless of whether they are true or not.

Do not make negative comments about any company or person who posted negative comments about your brand. This begins a campaign of mud-slinging that will only further hurt your brand. It is non-productive and will not be received well by the community.

Do not pull your social media pages. Do track and use daily alerts so you can monitor comments and stay on top of the chatter. If something negative is posted, deal with it quickly (after doing your due diligence) to avoid it escalating into something big.

About the Author: Jeff Beale – Mr. Marketology. Provided by Internet Marketing Consultant. More marketing advice at http://www.mrmarketology.com/.

San Francisco-based SEO copywriter and consultant James A. Martin is the author of an SEO and social media marketing blog.

www.smallbusinesscomputing.com
(Researched by: www.itechwebdesign.co.uk)

www.smallbusinesscomputing.com
(Researched by: www.itechwebdesign.co.uk)

www.smallbusinesscomputing.com
(Researched by: www.itechwebdesign.co.uk)

www.smallbusinesscomputing.com
(Researched by: www.itechwebdesign.co.uk)

www.smallbusinesscomputing.com
(Researched by: www.itechwebdesign.co.uk)