Sample Makers Inc. Check Out SMI’s NEW Social Media Marketing Services
Why us? SMI employees the industries top social media experts, that deploy and use the latest social media techniques. Our staff takes pride in keeping up with all the latest trends in this and many other industries. Not only is our staff experts in most aspects of the internet, but we also employ professional trainers that can ramp up your staff in an easy and understandable way. SMI has been a trusted leader in every industry it has operated in for over 35 years, working with SMI is like working with a trusted friend. Special offer As a first time customer of SMI’s exciting new Social Media Marketing service, mention this ad and get 10% off your first transaction with our social media service.	What Is Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the act of promoting your site, business, or blogs through social media web sites. SMM when coupled with your current or traditional advertising campaign is a very powerful tool that builds customer loyalty by way of customer contact. And most important if you are patient, diligent, and stead fast in your SMMing you will bring massive amounts of traffic to your location on the web. Read More….. What SMI Can Do For You Reach your target audiences that would be most interested in your brand on the social networks Create buzz about your business Help continue the conversation about your brand without being pushy but informative Help build customer relationship by engaging your target audience and customers, and encouraging them to share their experiences with you and others. Build your social and web presences Create professionally written content on your blog Build online buzz via blogs/tweets/forum seeding and many more social tools available. Customer training to help build a solid social media team SMI’s Menu Of Services Social Media Marketing can be the key differentiating factor between your business and your competitors. Let SMI’s staff of Social Media Experts take the hassle out of learning how to setup up your social media campaign. We can get your campaign off the ground and train your staff to continue the campaign, or let our staff continue to maintain your social marketing campaign. We offer a full menu of services from Ala-Carte offerings to full blow start to finish packages to fit everyones needs. CLICK HERE to see our full menu of services. Join us @
Contact us Bob Stryer social@samplemakers.com Phone: 865-475-7575 www.samplemakers.com Fax: 865-475-6137 www.samplemakers.com/blog

See this newsletter on our web site at http://samplemakers.com/campigns/whatsocial/whatsocial.htm

Sample Makers Inc., 1916 Slate Road, Jefferson City, TN 37760, United States

Next go to your favorit web page or blog that has the RSS Symbol and click on the symbol. You should be taken to a RSS feed web page that should have something that looks like this.

Click on the Goolge button, login to Google if asked.

This will take you to a page on Google that will ask you to add this RSS to your Google Home Page or Google Reader. The home page is a place where you can add RSS feeds as well as many other widgets that give you a custom page. Most people use this page as their main page to start surfing every time they open a web browser. If you choose the Google Reader then all your RSS feeds will be here and will look and feel like email. You can choose one and then click the back button and choose the other and add the RSS feed to both your Google Home page and your google RSS Feed.

To read about what RSS feeds are click here.

In todays fast pasted world it is hard to keep up with all the information that we want to or should keep up with, and the internet has made keeping up much easier and faster then it use to be.  The internet has also made keeping up overwhelming with the amount of data that is out there.  In the old days of the internet if you wanted to follow a source of information you would have to bookmark the web site you wanted to follow, and keep going back to look for new information. The problem with bookmarks is.

• The person following the web site had to do all the work
• It is hard to track many web sites at once
• You could loose bookmarks
• Information could be missed if the follower forgets to check for new information

RSS is a technology that allows users to follow web sites, blogs and many millions of others content providers on the internet automatically, and read the data when they have time.

A good comparison of RSS feed is a magazine subscription. A magazine subscription is delivered to your home periodically, without the person reading the magazine having to remember to go to the store and buy the magazine. RSS feeds is information you subscribed to on the internet that is delivered to your RSS Reader every time your favorite website or blog is updated.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a standardized format. An RSS document (which is called a “feed”) includes full or summarized text, pictures and sometimes video. Web feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favored websites or blog in one place the RSS Reader. RSS feeds can be read using software called an “RSS reader”, which can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile-device-based. The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed’s URI or by clicking an RSS icon in a web browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user’s subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds.

The first step to using RSS feeds to gain information automatically is to decide on which RSS Feed Reader you are going to use. There are many feed readers on the internet, most of them are free. As stated above you can use one that is browser based such as Google Reader or Yahoo My Page Reader. These readers are very easy and free, and can be reached from any computer on the internet. If you use Microsoft Outlook 2007 as your mail client, you can use Outlook as your RSS feed and read your feeds as you read your email. Since Outlook is a desktop application you will only have access to your feeds when you are on your computer.

In the next few entries of the blog series I will show you how to add RSS feeds to your Google, Yahoo, and Outlook 2007 RSS Readers.

Learn how to add RSS Feeds to Google RSS Reader

In the 80′ most companies though they had to create a different look for every new pattern or product in their line..  So nothing by way of samples said “MY COMPANY”. Then some one had the bright idea, to make all cards, books, catalogs, etc. say “MY COMPANY”. Make all samples and catalogs have the same feel and color, the only thing that changed, was the name of the product.. If they had a 3 ring binder, even the cover we produced, had the same look and colors as the cards that went into it. The same would go for stack books, memo’s and showroom samples.

This doesn’t happen over night, it’s a process over time… But the most successful companies have learned to creating an image, for their company, which is very important for success..

Why are all of us in business? For the same long hours, the worry, the aggravation (no I don’t think so) It’s the bottom line; dollars. With 1% more effort, you could increase your sales 10 fold. I’ve seen it happen many times.

It’s your imagine, your customers notice, everything else being equal; your quality, prices, procedures etc. your samples have a professional look about them and reflects back to your company.. So, your comapny imagine “by way of samples” is very essential to getting those new orders, because your samples will be sitting next to those 47 1/2 other sample books I mentioned in my first blog…. (Click Here to read first blog)  To be continued.

SMM is still in it’s infancy stage, and there are no tried and true methods to the madness as there is in traditional marketing. Most all marketing efforts to this point are trial and error, but as things hash out in this industry some methods are starting to stand out as the “so called” standards of SMM.  One thing is for sure by creating viral content and promoting it via social media, you can build a very large, loyal group of fans that keep coming back for more and bring their friends with them.

Today there are many business managers and owners that are in one of the following categories.

1. The ones that don’t know about SMM
2. The ones that have heard of it, but have no clue how to get into SMM
3. The ones that feel there is no value in SMM

No matter which category you are in, take some time to surf the web and find out as much as you can about social media. No matter if you look at small companies or large mega companies one thing they all have in common, a follow me in Twitter and FaceBook logo on their main page of their web site. From Dell to Starbucks, to the mom and pop shop up the street, everyone is finding out that customer loyalty via customer contact is building strong customer relationship.

If you are looking for return on investment (ROI), or if you are asking yourself how does social media make me money, then you are looking at social media in the wrong light. Because most companies will tell you they have not seen a direct correlation between SMM and ROI. Most companies have no real method of tracking tangible ROI in direct relation to their SMM campaigns. But to wet your appetite for information in regards to how well SMM is doing for some companies check out these facts posted in June 2009.

1. Dell Computers surpassed $3 million in sales via links from one of it’s Twitter accounts
2. Cisco Systems found 43% of visits to online support forum are in lieu of opening up a support case though the standard methods
3. Ebay found in 2006 that participants in online communities spend 54% more than non-community users.

Better customer experiences, far lower support costs and more buying activity in the long run, coupled with higher customer satisfaction is what Social Media Marketing can bring to the company that successfully implements SMM into their advertising campaign.

Just remember these few items as you try to decide on if you should use SMM or not.

1. Your customers are using it
2. Your competition is already doing it
3. Your partners are using it
4. Your web site hits are static
5. Your advertising budget is busted

Social media is a way to reliably dispense your message to a group of people who want to hear what you have to say, and want to feel included as they converse with you on the subject.

January 22, 2010

The Nielsen Company found that the average time users spend using Facebook per month grew nearly 10%, topping seven hours. Additionally, the number of those actively using the web grew 3.8%, to slightly more than 203 million users.

number#1 The person in my ordering dept..who took the order by phone or email..Was he or she pleasent and helpful, telling the customer if the fabric was in stock, prices, specials,delivery etc…

number#2..My company for its quick delivery, good packing, seeing that my customer gets the right color and yardage and of course competitive pricing…

number#3..If it was delivered on a company truck, was the driver delivering courteous and helpful, and asked do you need anything else? Always looking for the added sale..And my truck was it in good repair, and did it advertise my company image?

number#4..My credit dept. did it work with sales in finding out why the account did not pay; before calling and “demanding” money from on of my best customers, that may have overlooked the bill.

number#5..and last but not least my “SAMPLES” that was left or sent..These are what projects my company image.. The salesman has to sell himself to get the order,unless his company has a monopoly, other wise he can get away with just being an order taker..But most of us are not in that position..So my order from his company started with me the salesman making the inital call and by placing my SAMPLE BOOK at his disposal..So it was my silent partner my TRUSTY SAMPLE BOOK that sold the customer and closed the sale, everything else being equal…to be continued!