Basic SEO: Getting started

Waseem Saddique Marketing experts reveal some top tips for getting started with your basic SEO.

Keywords, Lots of them!

You should always research your keywords before putting them into your content on your website. Be conscious of placing appropriate keywords throughout every aspect of your site including URL’s, Titles, Image names, Page Content. AVOID KEYWORD OVERLOAD: Having too many keywords on your site could mean you are seen as having too much spam content which search engine robots are programmed to ignore sites that are guilty of keyword overload.

A  Sat Nav that won’t let you drive into a river.

Creating a sitemap for your website makes it possible for users to navigate much more easily. A sitemap is a page that lists and links all of your websites major pages. A website developer from Waseem Saddique Marketing said “It’s best for users to only have to click a small number of times to get to the page they are looking for.”

Goodbye to old fashioned content

Waseem Saddique Marketing experts suggest creating fresh, unique content for your website. This will engage users and of course improve your general SEO if you include the right amount of well researched keywords. Users prefer sites that are kept up to date with useful information. A great way to ensure that your website gets new content on a frequent basis is to integrate a blog!

Tweet, Update and Share

Social media distribution is important for any SEO strategy. Social media sites should be used by your business to distribute links that direct users to fresh content including news updates, articles, company announcements etc. “This strategy can help you multiply your links visibility from internet and social media users” a Waseem Saddique Marketing expert from Birmingham has said.

To read more about online marketing, PPC,SEO, About Waseem and Birmingham, visit our blog at www.waseemsaddique.blogspot.com  

How to Use Skype to Enhance Business Profitability | A Waseem Saddique Marketing Guide

Skype has recently announced that its users spend 2 billion minutes per day connecting, this equates to enough time to view approximately 16 million videos or journey to the moon and back at least 225,000 times.

This represents a massive global audience for businesses to tap into and Waseem Saddique Marketing Services has issued some essential information for business owners on how to use Skype to enhance business profitability.

Vital Information

•     Use Skype to cut costs
•     Use Skype to grow consumer audiences
•     Use Skype to do business with other businesses
•     Use Skype to host seminars and charge a fee

Waseem Saddique asserts: “Skype is free and enables businesses to call and conference anyone, immediately eliminating the cost of calling mobile phones and landlines. This already represents a significant decrease in financial outgoings for the majority of companies.”

Companies can also utilise ‘Skype Numbers’, which allow potential consumers, current clients  and other callers to contact one centralised ‘Skype Number’ from anywhere in the world. This allows for significant financial savings to be made as it eradicates the need for numerous telephone lines and purchasing mobile phones excessively.

However, should telephones be an integral part of a business, Skype calls can be routed through current phone systems without disruption and tying up telephone lines.

Waseem Saddique comments: “Skype not only improves productivity, but it eliminates so many costs involved with running a business. The money saved can be put to better use in areas such as advertising, improving customer service and building business prominence.”

As Skype is a widely free service, companies have been encouraged to engage audiences using the system. It allows business users to conduct on-line presentations, in real time, should they be unable to represent themselves ‘in the flesh’.

Statistics show that consumers are more likely to purchase goods or services if they can ‘see them in action’, a solution that Skype offers, resulting in more sales and therefore increasing profit margins.

The Skype free service is compatible from PC-to-PC and represents the most cost effective way of using Skype to reduce financial outgoings.

Waseem Saddique states: “Skype is a simple application to install and the possibilities for its use are endless. The most notable impact that it has on increasing business profitability is that is reduces costs and effectively pays for itself because it opens up a massive consumer audience and can be utilised as an effective marketing tool.”

Simply initiating Skype as the primary communication tool within a business reduces company outgoings instantly and a number of marketing experts, according to Mashable.com, have implored business owners to seriously consider using Skype on a frequent basis for online marketing and advertising purposes.”

In a statement issued on Mashable’s website it’s stated that: “Skype is immensely versatile, in addition to video chat and instant messaging, it offers voice calling from desktops and mobile devices, as well as file sharing. Companies will certainly witness some, if not substantial, growth in terms of profit margins when using it.”     

Waseem Saddique Marketing | A 3 Step Guide for Using Facebook ‘Hashtags’ to Enhance Online Marketing

Following the announcement that Facebook will be introducing ‘hashtags’(#) to the social networking site, Waseem Saddique Marketing reveals how businesses can capitalise in terms of enhancing their online marketing efforts.

Waseem Saddique Marketing provides a 3 step guide that will pave the way for increased communication with current and potential customers.

Step One

Increase Advertising Efforts on Facebook – Waseem Saddique states: “The new Facebook ‘hashtags’ will allow advertisers to identify ‘hot-spots’ of activity relevant to their business. Therefore, an online marketing campaign incorporating Facebook and the new ‘hashtag’ system will allow businesses to be even more target specific.”

Step Two 

Be Proactive – Maintenance of a Facebook page will be vital following the introduction of the ‘hashtag’ system. Potential customers will be entering into online conversation topics in real time providing an immediate way for businesses to promote themselves to a particular audience, live!

Many organisations now employ social media specialists to administrate and monitor the day-to-day running of social media activity with hugely successful results. Waseem Saddique states: “The implementation of ‘hashtags’ on Facebook will only increase the need to be posting regularly on Facebook. To stay ahead of rivals it’s highly recommended to update Facebook profiles and pages consistently.”

Step Three

Engage the Audience – Consumers recognise, and are attracted to, Facebook pages that are updated regularly. Hashtags will enhance the ability to attract an audience and by drawing in the consumer audience it presents businesses with the perfect opportunity to instigate a hashtag conversation that’s relevant to both business and consumer.

The ‘hashtag’ system will be an ideal platform to initiate a fact finding exercise. Waseem 

Saddique recommends the following:

·         Conduct a poll using the hashtag system

·         Promote offers and competitions

·         Provide ‘Did You Know?’ data such as statistical information relevant to your business

·         Ask questions that generate debate, but subtly glean information i.e. Is Chanel’s new perfume slightly overpriced? – If you’re a perfume supplier you’re creating debate, yet subtly establishing whether your audience uses Chanel or another brand of perfume

The Facebook ‘hashtag’ system will reveal all this information in real time and allow businesses to react instantly to the information that’s supplied. In terms of enhancing online marketing the Facebook ‘hashtag’ system hopes to emulate the ‘hashtag’ system of Twitter, the social media site from which the # (hashtag) originates.

As a supplementary incentive for businesses, ease of access to target audiences will be made simplistic as companies will be able to click hashtagged words and instantly view discussion feeds related to a particular topic.

In a statement from Facebook executives, they said: “The online marketing potential for businesses worldwide will be taken to a whole new level. At present we have plans to roll out hashtags to 20% of our users, with a global roll out planned shortly afterwards.” 

Why Your SME should adopt an E-marketing Strategy | A Waseem Saddique Marketing Insight

In light of an e-marketing boom in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Waseem Saddique Marketing urges SMEs all over the world to adopt an e-marketing strategy.

SMEs in the UAE currently represent 40% of the nation’s GDP and they are considered responsible for the generation of over 40% of domestic employment requirements.

What’s the reason for the growing success of SMEs in the UAE? The answer is effective e-marketing strategies. Waseem Saddique asserts: “When executed correctly, an online marketing strategy holds the key to broadening the reach of a business beyond the realms of its usual client base and into unknown territory.”

Due to the cost effective nature of online marketing, when compared with traditional methods, internet based marketing adds much more value to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), according to a top executive at Genesis Consulting based in Dubai.

Following the rise of the global recession, SMEs have become an integral part of the economy in countries such as Bahrain and other regions across the Middle-East. However, this is not just a Middle-Eastern trend. Countries such as the UK are arguably keeping their economies afloat, thanks in part, to the influence of SMEs

However, where SMEs in countries like Bahrain and the UK are missing out is their failure to recognise the value of internet marketing quickly enough to compete with their competitors.

Waseem Saddique states: “For instance, across the UK less ‘tech-savvy’ SMEs are reportedly losing out on £122 billion in sales revenue by neglecting to develop and establish a sustainable marketing plan, particularly one that involves an online strategy, according to a survey published in March 2013 by the Centre for Economics and Business Research.”

The importance of SMEs adopting an online marketing strategy cannot be underestimated according to marketing experts. The market potential is huge and SMEs simply have to embrace platforms such as social media including: Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Online marketing is an ideal platform for SMEs particularly those just starting out as it provides the perfect opportunity to promote and grow a company across a worldwide audience.

The majority of the consumer base, across many nations, is now based online and online marketing now offers a much more effective solution than methods such as print media advertising.

Recent media trends highlight that the influence of online advertising continues to gather pace and has a very distinct edge over other media platforms. The majority of consumers now refer to the internet for information and to purchase products or services.

One of the biggest challenges faced by online marketing specialists across the UK and the Middle East for instance, is how best to educate SMEs of the importance and value of online marketing.

For many SMEs the biggest barrier to committing to online marketing is their desire for instant results. If an online marketing campaign does not deliver results within a month they dismiss its value and move onto another strategy.

Waseem Saddique comments: “This approach to marketing is just not sustainable, nor is it time or cost effective. It’s better to adopt one strategy and do it well, rather than have several strategies that deliver average results.”

Research published by InternetWorldStats.com revealed that Facebook usage in Bahrain, and the Middle East (excluding North Africa), stood at over 26% (24 million) of the total internet user population of 90 million as of June last year.

This means that the market is there for SMEs, they just need to switch onto the potential and embrace the concept of online marketing.

Founded in 2007, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services has consistently provided small to medium enterprises as well as larger corporate firms with a range of digital marketing & online solutions.

What’s the ‘Cloud’ & is it the Future of Digital Content Storage? Waseem Saddique Marketing Investigates

The ‘Cloud’ is arguably the hottest trending topic in marketing at present, but what’s all the fuss about? Waseem Saddique Marketing Services investigates the ‘buzz’ behind the ‘Cloud’.

Waseem Saddique comments: “In a recent statement issued by Gartner Inc. the company predicted that 2013 will see one-third of consumers’ digital-content stored in the ‘Cloud’ system. However, a number of consumers have been left baffled as to what the ‘Cloud’ system is.”

What is the ‘Cloud?’

In order to explain the concept of the ‘Cloud’ here’s a simple analogy.

Previous technologies such as floppy disks, CD’s and even USB drives provided you with a physical piece of hardware on which you could store those important files, music and photographs.

The ‘Cloud’ removes the ‘physical hardware’ aspect so photos featured on Facebook, or movies streamed via ‘Love Film’ for instance, are not stored on the hard drive of a computer it’s stored somewhere else, the ‘Cloud’.

The simplest explanation given is that the Cloud is simply a form of Internet storage. A number of technology specialists would argue that it is more complex than that and of course it is, but based on the assumption we’re not all technologically savvy, this explanation will suffice.

In technological terms, the Cloud, otherwise known as cloud computing, refers to data that is hosted on or operates via an Internet server. A number of major digital marketing service providers have such servers in place including: Yahoo, Google, Facebook and Apple.

‘Cloud’ Benefits   

Arguably the greatest benefit of using ‘Cloud’-based services or ‘Cloud’ computing is that your data is not stored on one device, it’s accessible across multiple devices. You can access e-mails and other applications from any computer. Furthermore, with cloud storage facilities such as Google Drive, SugarSync and Dropbox, you have the capacity to store those important files.

Another great perk of ‘Cloud’ storage is the back-up it offers. Even if your computer hard drive crashes, all is not lost because your files are stored across various services, which are immediately accessible from another computer.

Waseem Saddique states: “The ‘Cloud’ is extremely beneficial for businesses that have huge amounts of data to store and based on the evidence the future of digital content storage is firmly heading in this direction.”

‘Cloud’ Caution

What makes the ‘Cloud’ so unique is that data is stored on the Internet, the drawback to that is that an online connection is required in order to access data. This would not be a complication with a physical piece of hardware such as a ‘USB pen’.

Waseem Saddique concludes: “The ‘Cloud’ also raises the question of security, given that it is an internet-based service. Consumers are understandably protective of their online digital content and whilst great strides are made to preserve privacy and security, caution should be taken when using the ‘Cloud’. It’s recommended that users have strong passwords.” 

Impacted by Google Panda Changes? Waseem Saddique Marketing Offers Recovery Tips

Waseem Saddique asserts: “The adverse effect on SEO rankings for many companies following the Google Panda changes initially wreaked havoc when implemented back in 2011. Many companies have had to resort to SEO ‘Panda Recovery’ measures in order to re-assert a high search engine ranking status.”

Whilst this has proven to be a nuisance, many SEO experts agree that the algorithm changes have been positive for the Search Ranking industry, as the changes targeted ‘low-quality sites’ in order to decrease their ranking status and raise the search engine positioning, of what Google Panda  determined to be, ‘high quality sites’.

Google statistics reveal that Panda changes affected approximately 12% of SEO rankings when it was first implemented. The most recent Panda algorithm changes, believed to have taken place in January 2013, reveal that alterations affected just 1.2% of English queries.

Waseem Saddique Marketing offers some essential tips for SEO Panda Recovery:

1.       Reduce the amount of Low Quality content on your website – As part of the recovery process the number one goal should be to eliminate auto-generated content from your website. This can be achieved by preventing the indexing and crawling of all low quality content, which will restrict Google Panda from downgrading the SEO ranking of your entire site.
2.             Unique is key – Google Panda thrives on unique, high quality content and penalises websites that simply copy articles from other sources. To avoid being punished by the Panda algorithm focus your efforts on publishing fresh, unique and captivating content on your site.
3.        Keep Advertising to a Minimum – Google’s Panda algorithm is adverse to websites with high advertising content. Reducing advert numbers not only pacifies the Panda algorithm, but also improves the user experience. Statistics, released by Hub Pages, reveals that 67% of web users would leave a site if it was saturated with advertisements.
4.       Increase Your Knowledge of Panda and Track Updates - Sites affected by Panda will experience massive changes, especially to page viewing figures. When evaluating Google Analytics it’s likely that you’ll find a substantial decrease in page viewing numbers. This represents clear evidence that your site has undergone a Panda evaluation.
5.       Establish Integrity – The more exclusive, high quality SEO content that you publish, the more likely your website will be to capture the attention of Google ‘crawlers’. This attention expands across backlinks; enhancing your website as a respected resource for providing top quality material for your target audience. Google Panda prefers sites that attract high audience viewing figures for all the correct reasons. 

Waseem Saddique states: “Some things to consider when evaluating your website include:

·         Do I find the information on the site factual, informative and reliable?

·         Does my site portray an element of expertise on the topic covered, highlighting professionalism?

·         Is my site worthy of recommendation to others and would I point my connections in the direction of the site for information?”

Founded in 2007, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services has consistently provided small to medium enterprises as well as larger corporate firms with a range of digital marketing & online solutions.

Successfully Implement Your Business Marketing Strategy in 3 Steps

Waseem Saddique Marketing has learnt that a number of marketing strategies are failing as a result of poor planning. In a recent report issued by ‘Lionbridge’, 36% of business leaders admitted to adopting a ‘scatter-gun’ approach when it came to marketing strategy. This approach has seen an increase in the number of online marketing campaigns doomed to fail before they even begin.

In a bid to combat this trend, Waseem Saddique Marketing provides a few simple tips for implementing a successful marketing plan.

Waseem Saddique states: “The marketing plan is just as important as the marketing strategy itself. After all, the plan lays the foundation for an entire marketing campaign. If the foundation is not structured correctly, the strategy itself runs the risk of failing.”

Marketing commentators make the point that business leaders need to possess the ability to step back and evaluate the progress of a marketing campaign to ensure that the initial plan is being adhered to and that the company is heading in the right direction.

So what are the tactics for keeping your marketing strategy on track?

Step 1 – Evaluate and Monitor: Waseem Saddique comments: “This cannot be emphasised enough, the moment a business loses sight of the original marketing plan is the moment that strategies go astray.”

Keeping track of articles, social media, videos, blogs and adverts is a necessity and can be achieved through ‘Google Analytics’ and other such resources. Adopting this approach allows business leaders the freedom to evaluate which strategies are working and worth pursuing and which marketing tactics are worth eliminating.

Step 2 – Seek feedback: Request regular feedback and testimonials from clients as this will give your business a key insight into whether your marketing tactics are having the desired effect. Statistics from analytical tools only provide a partial assessment of the effectiveness of a marketing campaign. However, consumers will provide an honest evaluation of your campaign whether good or bad.

After all, it’s consumers that your business is reaching out to and they’re the people that truly determine whether your marketing approach is doing the job it’s supposed to be doing.

Step 3 - Always be planning: Planning doesn’t end at the beginning, marketing plans have to grow in order to incorporate new ideas and fresh tactics. Waseem Saddique states: “A marketing strategy is something more than a ‘once a year’ phase. Marketing campaigns will take different courses throughout the year, adapting for seasonal promotions and special offers etc…”

It’s important to plan constantly, but without navigating away from the roots of the initial marketing plan. A solid foundation allows business leaders to have a freedom and flexibility, which enables them to adjust a marketing strategy depending on trends.

The best marketing campaigns are ones that are executed on the foundation of a solid plan, ensuring greater longevity and overall success. Did you know? The CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) surveyed 40 businesses in 2012 as to whether their marketing plan had contributed to the overall success of an online marketing campaign. 79% of respondents implied that the plan was key to the campaign.   

How to build an ‘App’ for your Business – A guide from Waseem Saddique Marketing Services

It’s estimated that there are 6 million apps in circulation (source: esave.com) across all platforms including: the iPhone app store, the Android Market, the Windows Phone market place, the Blackberry and many more.

Waseem Saddique comments: “The ‘app’ market is competitive, as businesses jostle to attract consumer attention. Therefore, if an app would be suitable for aiding business growth, it’s certainly worth considering the development of an ‘app’ when implementing an online marketing strategy.”

Statistics show that quality ‘apps’ tend to go viral very quickly and are a sure fire way to increase the prominence of an online marketing campaign and increase the exposure of a business. ‘Apps’ have become a particularly favoured marketing tool among SME’s as they look to raise the profile of their businesses.

Waseem Saddique states: “Whilst there are a number of DIY ‘app’ development tools available, it is recommended that you consult a specialist ‘app’ developer, especially if you’re technological knowledge is basic at best. There’s no shame in calling in a professional, after all it’s best to develop an ‘app’ that is effective and less likely to encounter functionality issues.”

What’s the benefit of an ‘app’?

One of the key benefits that ‘apps’ offer is versatility as they can be embedded almost anywhere, whether it is on a Facebook page, on a mobile or smartphone or on a website.

Other benefits include:

#1 – A cost effective approach to online marketing.

#2 – Rapid viral exposure.

#3 – ‘Apps’ are interactive, encouraging consumers to connect with your business, whether        consciously, or subconsciously.

#4 – They offer a revenue stream – ‘Apps’ can be sold on a number of ‘app’ markets.

#5 – They can constantly be refined to keep up with consumer trends.

What are my options for developing an ‘app’? 

Do-it-yourself – Whilst consulting with a developer is recommended, if your budget is tight there are a number of DIY ‘app’ development tools available. One particular DIY tool that is proving popular is Google’s App Inventor. ‘App’ inventor does not require the involvement of a developer and allows you to create Android compatible ‘apps’ that utilise smartphone features such as, GPS and SMS.

Should you wish to capture the iPhone market the ‘AppMakr’ tool is a website-based iPhone ‘app’ creator.

A number of DIY tools also exist for creating microsites, Facebook applications, blog ‘apps’ and much more.

Waseem Saddique states: “It’s imperative, that when developing an ‘app’ of your own, without professional assistance, that the concept and strategy are right from the word go, otherwise the development could become a time-consuming and costly process.”

Hire a freelancer – Freelance websites are a great way to source ‘app’ developers, some of the top sites include peopleperhour.com, odesk.com and freelancer.com

There is a risk element to hiring the services of a freelancer, but it is also a cost effective method compared to hiring a development agency.

The key element of hiring a freelancer is to do your research and when selecting a developer to work with, make sure everything is put in black and white by way of a contract. That way there can be no misinterpretations of what is expected from both parties during the ‘app’ project.

Hire an agency – For the more affluent business owner, with a more significant budget, hiring an ‘app’ development agency is perhaps the best option. If your ‘app’ is likely to play a big part in your marketing strategy, there is no substitute for ensuring that you ‘app’ is developed to the highest standard.

Waseem Saddique comments: “A well-developed ‘app’ can be a ‘game changer’ when jostling for consumer attention. Functionality is of the utmost importance and research conducted by esave.com shows that 47% of consumers will cease to use an ‘app’ if it’s slow and too complex to use.”

A highly recommended ‘app’ development agency (as supplied by masahable.com) is TheyMakeApps.com who have the capability to develop ‘apps’ for all platforms, particularly for online marketing campaigns.

For an all-in-one solution, employ in-house developers

Hiring an in-house developer(s) offers a solution that combines all three of the above. If online marketing and mobile marketing are the essential foundation for the success of your business then, purely for the long-term benefits, employing in-house staff is the most effective solution. 

Over a period of time, in-house staff will have a solid grasp of your ‘app’ requirements and can constantly refine and develop applications in order to keep up with customer trends and tastes. In terms of longevity and establishing an ‘app’ brand having developers that know your business inside out will ultimately prove pivotal.

Founded in 2007, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services has consistently provided small to medium enterprises, as well as larger corporate firms, with a range of digital marketing & online solutions. To learn more visit www.waseemsaddique.blogspot.com

What do new Press Regulatory Laws mean for Bloggers? Waseem Saddique Marketing Investigates

Are you an online blogger for a business? If so you could face high libel fines, thanks to the new press regulation deal.

Blogs, websites and even social media pages could be forced to pay heavy fines should they fail to sign up to new press regulatory laws implemented under the new Leveson deal.

WaseemSaddique comments: “New press regulation laws could change the face of online marketing, whilst the first step seems to affect blogs and websites, there are rumours that the laws could span across social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many more.”

New press regulation laws have been met with a mixed response. The victims of the recent phone hacking scandal involving the News of the World, which sparked off an entire review of the UK media sector, are strongly in favour of reducing ‘press power’, effectively disabling them from, what they perceive to be, an intrusion of their private lives.

Those opposed to press regulation argue that it takes away the fundamental freedom of ‘free speech’, which many consider to be a very dangerous threshold to cross.

The particular section of legislation likely to impact bloggers and websites can be found under clause 29 of the ‘Crime and Courts Bill’.

Waseem Saddique Marketing Services released a statement saying: “The new clause introduced to the bill states that ‘relevant bloggers or websites are defined as those that generate news material whereby an individual or group has editorial control over a publication within an editorial structure.”

Whilst bloggers would be exempt from damages for comments posted by readers, the fact remains that bloggers and website owners will now be forced to walk a very thin line in order to provide articles that are neutral and not necessarily based on opinion.

Certain publications, such as scientific journals, student publications and charity material, such as newsletters, will not be accountable to the new law. Websites will also be granted immunity on the condition that they sign up to the new regulator.

In a statement from the Chief Executive of Index Censorship, Kirsty Hughes, she said: “This is a dark day for British democracy. This will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on everyday people's web use. I fear that thousands of websites could fall under the definition of a ‘relevant publisher’ in clause 29. Bloggers could find themselves subject to exemplary damages, due to the fact that they were not part of a regulator that was not intended for them in the first place.”

In a case study carried out by Waseem Saddique Marketing Services, they uncovered one particular blogger who will not be signing up to the regulation roster. Harry Cole, a political blog writer for Guido Fawkes, said: “I won’t be joining. My servers are based in the US and should therefore make me exempt from UK press laws.”

He added: “I don't see I should join a regulator. This country has had a free press for the last 300 years, that has been irreverent and rude as my website is and holding public officials to account. We as a matter of principle will be opposing any regulator especially one set up and accountable to politicians we write about every day.”

Waseem Saddique concludes: “Undoubtedly, this could be the first step towards total regulation across a number of platforms. This will ultimately change the face of online marketing, website trends, social media trends and much more. This could be a tactic that backfires severely.”

Founded in 2007, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services has consistently provided small to medium enterprises, as well as larger corporate firms, with a range of digital marketing & online solutions.

Social Media Wars, Who’s Really Top of Social Syndicate? Waseem Saddique Marketing Investigates

Social media has become a global phenomenon, with social networking platforms used by all sectors of modern society, whether it’s for personal or business use. In order for businesses to best target their online marketing efforts, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services investigates which social media solution sits at the summit of the social networking world. 

Waseem Saddique comments: “Ask a Facebook representative, they’ll say Facebook, ask a Twitter employee, they’ll say Twitter or ask a LinkedIn spokesperson they’ll say… and so on. According to in-depth research, carried out by ‘Ebizma’, official stats, as of January 2013, put…’Facebook’ at the summit of the social media syndicate.”

According to ‘Ebiz’, Facebook boasts approximately 750,000 billion unique monthly users and now has approximately 1 million users (at time of writing), exceeding Twitter’s (which ranks in second place) unique monthly users by around 500,000.

Isn't it all subjective? 

Waseem Saddique comments: “Being top of the pile in the quest for social networking supremacy is no small feat. But, do the statistics represent personal preference. Whilst people may be registered with a social networking site, it may not necessarily cater to their needs and presence on the site is more out of necessity as opposed to an essential requirement.”

Certain business streams adopt one form of social media, whereas competitors may well maintain a social media presence elsewhere. Much of the decision making process rests on where businesses can achieve the best results in terms of reach, but reaching the required audience for their business needs.

There is no doubt that social media is shaping the way that business conducts its online marketing efforts. Business moguls are now often quoted as saying that ‘any marketing strategy that does not consider a social media presence is no marketing strategy at all.’

Social media has a ‘vice like’ grip on society. According to ‘World Mixture’, the average individual checks their social media profile every 6 minutes. Also, 87% of these people maintain the same habit in checking their profile first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

In terms of subjectivity, whilst Facebook is defined as the leading social media lead generation platform for B2C businesses, B2B companies refer to LinkedIn as the most effective social media tool for their needs.

Waseem Saddique states: “When it comes to business to business relationships and business to customer relationships, maintained via social media, statistics do become subjective. One platform that works for one will not work for another.”

To put things into perspective, according to ‘Marketingeasy’, the average midsize or large company (1000 employees or more) has 178 “social media assets” (Twitter handles, employee blogs, etc.)–yet only 25% of companies offer social business training to their employees.

So whilst businesses recognise that social media now plays a key role in business growth, investment into employee training remains staggeringly low.

So even the overall importance of social media to businesses can be questioned, although many companies have a great social media presence, do they have the resources and knowledgeable staff to maintain it.

Concluding thoughts

The question of who sits at the summit of the social media empire is open to interpretation. Waseem Saddique comments: “Whilst Facebook holds the statistical crown, if you were to conduct a country-by-country survey, many nations would offer a different social media platform, which they would consider to be the leader in the social networking wars.”

To give business leaders and individuals a recent insight, from a statistical point of view, of who dominates the social media realm, here’s a list, compiled by ‘Ebiz’, revealing the top 15 most popular platforms of the moment (correct as of March 2013) –

1 | Facebook - 750,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

2 | Twitter - 250,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

3 | LinkedIn - 110,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

4 | Pinterest - 85,500,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

5 | MySpace - 70,500,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

6 | Google Plus+ - 65,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

7 | DeviantArt - 25,500,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

8 | LiveJournal - 20,500,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

9 | Tagged - 19,500,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

10 | Orkut - 17,500,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

11 | CafeMom - 12,500,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

12 | Ning - 12,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

13 | Meetup - 7,500,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

14 | myLife - 5,400,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors

15 | Multiply - 4,000,000 - Estimated Unique Monthly Visitors 

Exposed, SlideShare Secrets - The Social Media Solution Taking the Business World by Storm

SlideShare began its existence back in 2006, in just 7 years the social networking site has established itself as one the most unique and innovative social media sites operating today and has taken the business world by storm. Waseem Saddique Marketing Services investigates SlideShare’s rise to prominence and its increasing popularity within the business world.

Waseem Saddique comments: “The statistics for SlideShare make for phenomenal reading. The social media site welcomes 60 million visitors per month and approximately 130 million page views during the same time-frame  SlideShare is also ranked within the top 200 most visited sites on the planet.”

What is SlideShare?  

SlideShare is a social media platform, predominantly used by corporate companies, to display business presentations, but the platform also displays documents, PDFs, video and webinars. SlideShare operates with 55 staff and boasts the title of the world's largest community for sharing presentations.

The secret to SlideShares’ success

Perhaps one of the most defining factors for the popularity of SlideShare is its affiliation with the White House. The fact that arguably the most powerful Government in the world uses the SlideShare network will certainly raise the eyebrows of business leaders around the world.

WaseemSaddique states: “If SlideShare is good enough for the US Government, then it’s most definitely good enough for all sectors of the business world. A major fact worth knowing: In 2009, the official website for the US President (Whitehouse.gov) signed user agreements with eight of the world's leading social media websites. SlideShare was one of them. SlideShare is regularly used by the White House and many other US Government departments.”

SlideShare is also a very unique concept and appeals to a niche market, namely the business community, allowing companies around the globe to store presentations and have access to them during important business meetings, client pitches and other important business events.

SlideShare offers a credible online marketing solution for businesses, as presentations are stored indefinitely and are constantly accessible to current customers, business connections and potential customers.

Why is SlideShare popular among businesses?

The general consensus of business leaders is that SlideShare offers premium viral penetration.   SlideShare content spreads virally through blogs and social network platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Organisations upload documents to SlideShare to share ideas, conduct research, connect with others, and generate leads for their businesses.

Businesses also enjoy the features that SlideShare is able to provide, some of which include:

• The capability to upload presentations publicly or privately
• The ability to download presentations on any topic and reuse or remix
• The opportunity to embed on blogs, websites and company intranets
• The ease at which SlideShare posted can be shared on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
• The Zipcast feature: Free, no download, 1 click web meetings
• The option to lead share,  generating business leads with presentations, documents, PDFs and videos
• The Slidecast feature: sync mp3 audio with slides to create a webinar
• The potential to embed YouTube videos inside SlideShare presentations
• The option to upgrade the SlideShare experience allowing access to premium features like branded channels, analytics, ad free pages etc…

Waseem Saddique concludes: “SlideShare offers a complete online marketing solution allowing companies to spread the word about products and services that they have to offer. The secret to the success of SlideShare is its appeal to the business community and in conquering the business world, the social networking site is now making strides to conquer the public domain.”

Waseem Saddique Marketing Services – Samba Nation on the Brink of Social Media Milestone

Following research conducted by comScore, identifying that social media penetration in Brazil has reached almost 100%, Waseem Saddique Marketing Services provides a review of the Brazilian population’s embrace of social media.

Social media has become a craze in Brazil and interaction across social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social networking sites, is positively booming. At present 97% of Brazil’s Internet users have a presence on a social networking site, putting the samba nation on the threshold of achieving a monumental milestone.

Why Brazil?

This may strike many as surprising, but the internet and social media are relatively new concepts in Brazil and it’s only in very recent years that the nation has truly embraced both the web and social media on such a wide-scale.

The change in attitude towards social networking sites in Brazil has been rapid and dramatic, with the number of Brazilians using social media surging in recent times. Social media platforms have become incredibly popular among Brazilian people for a number of reasons.

Here are the facts:

1. The majority of Brazilians take to social media sites in order to research products and services before committing to a purchase – Waseem Saddique states “In a study conducted by ‘Oh! Panel’ they uncovered that approximately  61.4% of the Brazilian population will turn to social media in order to access information about products or services before deciding to buy.”

The study that Waseem Saddique refers to also unveiled that approximately 81% of Brazilian people use social media to find new products and/or services and a further 75% use it to track down special discounts.

2. The Brazilian population is heavily engaged with Facebook – On average, recent figures show, a Brazilian visitor to Facebook will interact on the site, in a variety of ways, for around 4.8 hours. Compared to 2010 this is a staggering increase, when a visitor would only spend an average of 37 minutes on Facebook.

As recently as 2011, Brazil was recognised as the number 4 country in the world in terms of its Facebook users with 36.1 million taking to the site. Furthermore, Facebook’s marketing share of display advertising in Brazil exceeded that of media giant, Google.

3. The decision making process of the majority of Brazilians will be influenced by posts they have viewed on social media – Waseem Saddique comments: “The ‘Oh! Panel’ survey uncovered that a staggering 79% of Brazilians put more trust in posts on social media sites about products than they do in the endorsement of a product expert.

Brazil is now recognised as one of the fastest growing social media markets on the planet. The use of the internet in Brazil has grown from virtually nothing to a stage where about 88% of Brazil’s urban  population are now online.

A number of marketing experts predict that the trend will continue, as Brazil looks to make sure that internet technology does not merely benefit the rich, but that less affluent members of Brazilian society will also have access to the social media craze.

Waseem Saddique concludes: “Work is ongoing to ensure that all sectors of Brazilian society are given the opportunity to embrace social media and it won’t be long before 100% social media penetration in Brazil becomes a reality.”