It is no secret that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are the best place to find out the latest and greatest of whats going on in the world around us.  But is there a way we can harness that sharing power for our businesses? Just understanding the psychology behind why and what we share seems like a logical start to us. So here is what we found:

As reported by Why do we share stories, new and information with others? on medicalxpress.com, emotion is the key to story sharing. “But interestingly, we found that while articles evoking more positive emotions were generally more viral, some negative emotions like anxiety and anger actually increased transmission while others like sadness decreased it,” states Jonah Berger, the Joseph G. Campbell Jr. Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania.

This seemed like a pretty obvious conclusion to us. So how do we use this to help our business? A: Make your content trigger emotion. Use some negative goings on in your industry and offer a solution (if you can) to that problem. Give as much information on the solution as you can without giving away the secret, and you can turn this content into an instant lead generation tool. Some words of caution: Naming the competitors that have the problem is never a good idea; Promising something you business cannot deliver (duh!) would be devastating to your business; Not staying true to your brand/business is a sure way ruin your reputation quickly.

Also, be creative with your content- we all know dancing babies is so outrageous it grabs out attention. There are plenty of ways out there that no one has thought of to market in your industry. Just commit to putting your thinking cap on and coming up with something thrilling.

We would enjoy reading some of our users creative content. Post it here and share your business website so all our user can check out what have to offer. (Don’t forget commenting on blogs can help SEO ranking if you use your name and website to respond. Participation on the internet community does count!) We look forward to hearing from everyone!

Read the rest of the medicalxpress article here: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-stories-news.html

Sure, all of us watch videos on YouTube.com but did you know you can utilize YouTube for your business?

All you have to do is sign up for an account on YouTube:

Create your profile:

And now you have your own YouTube Channel!

If you have filled in your entire profile, your channel will now searchable by the search engines like Google, have your name, photo, website and contact info. To make your channel even more search engine friendly you need to start adding videos. Some independent business owners may be a little intimidated by the the thought of recording a video of themselves and posting it for the world to see; but you can always start out with a short video and progress as time goes on. Not a fan of being in front of the camera? Record some audio and put in together with a Powerpoint presentation. This is just as effective and can be less terrifying. From an overview of your business, testimonials from clients, to industry tips, a thank you to all your employees, the possibilities of topics are endless (and I am sure you are thinking of one right now).

Need another reason to create your own channel for YouTube? Here are the stats straight from YouTube’s website:

Traffic and Stats

People are watching 2 billion videos a day on YouTube and uploading hundreds of thousands of videos daily. In fact, every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube.

Demographics

Our user base is broad in age range, 18-55, evenly divided between males and females, and spanning all geographies. Fifty-one percent of our users go to YouTube weekly or more often, and 52 percent of 18-34 year-olds share videos often with friends and colleagues. With such a large and diverse user base, YouTube offers something for everyone.

As we have shared before about joining Facebook, this is where the people are. Why shouldn’t you be there as well?

We would love to hear people’s success stories about implementing YouTube as a part of their social media campaign. Comment below and we will be sure to reward you.

Our Lunch & Learn Presentation today was a great success! Thank you Sheila Moore, www.idahohomelending.com, for inviting me to present; and thank you to all who attended. The food and conversation were fabulous!

Although you cannot enjoy the wonderful food those who attended enjoyed, you can be apart of the conversation by listening to the audio from the presentation. I welcome all questions or comments you may come up with while listening. Just press play to get started listening! PS. we are available to help with any of the topic mention in this piece: 208-861-9841 or valerie@jdaedesigns.com

If you are interested in winning 250 FREE Business Cards, submit your name and email below. The 6th person to submit will be the winner! (Your name and email will be kept confidential and not used for soliciting)