I’ll  bet that when you are posting on Facebook  you’re not thinking about the millions of people who are also logged into Facebook. You know what its like you get caught up messaging your friends whilst updating your wall, or skimming through the Friendfeed. BUT you need to remember that amongst the many millions caught up in the Facebook phenomenon some are potential employers, business partners, real friends,work colleagues and more.

If you want to make sure that your Facebook account isn’t going to come back to haunt you, here are 5 Costly Facebook Mistakes  that you should avoid. 

1. Keep it Clean

Your uploaded picture should be neutral if not professional. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the picture is going to be boring, but keep provocative and cartoony pictures tucked away where the world cannot see them. Remember, as an employee or future employee you are carrying the name of whatever company you work for. Provocative pictures never look good, especially when you can run the risk of future clients seeing your profile as well. A rule of thumb is that provocative pictures are for private viewing only.

2. Good Manners Never Hurt Anyone
The wall on Facebook, can be used to openly display any thoughts, articles, or comments you may want to share. As tempting as what it may be don’t make the mistake of putting everything and anything on your wall. Remember common courtesy should considered. So…Don’t make plans with people through wall posts. Save personal plans for personal emails or phone calls. If you’ve been invited to an event and plan to go, send an email or text message straight to the person that invited you instead of announcing your plans and confirmation on your wall. Once again it pays to have good manners you because you never know who may be watching. 

3. To Share Or Not To Share – That Is The Question!
If you choose to make your profile visible to everyone, then it is imperative that you make safe choices. For instance, sharing personal information such as an interest in Sci Fi movies, Eating Pizza and Cats is okay. However, showing personal addresses, names of children or children’s pictures may not be a good idea, because you never know who is viewing your profile or even worse still why they are viewing your profile.

4. Guilty By Association 
Facebook is a Social Site and the theory is that your friends are like minded people who are  a reflection of yourself. So you need to be aware of what pictures your friends are posting particularly if you are one of the star attractions. If  your friends are posting pictures that can be considered ‘too sexy’ then it’s possible that employers will view you as a spitting image of your friends. While it is impossible to prevent all friends from posting pictures of their choice, it is possible to prevent who is allowed to see a person’s list of friends. Take advantage of the privacy settings that Facebook offers.

5. Two Is Twice As Much Fun
If you having difficulty in keeping your profile on Facebook professional at all times then the option of having two profiles is for you. Many people have two profiles keeping one profile strictly for personal friends and the other strictly for professional business networking and coworkers. A great way to use two profiles is to make sure everything on your personal profile is private, while your professional profile can remain public. 

However you use Facebook its important to realise that 20% of companies admit to checking social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace in order to verify potential employees, and 24% of employees are hired based on their social networking site. So the next time you apply for a job, remember to check your Facebook account for any ticking bombs, because your future job could depend on it.

We hope this post has been useful. If you liked it share it with your friends or leave a comment. 

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Social media has probably been around since the beginning of mankind. In fact we have evidence that social media has been around for at least 40,000 years. Watch the video below and discover how social media was used 40,000 years ago. Join us at  Social Traffic Espionage as we guide  you through the history of social media and give you a glimpse of the its future.

If you have enjoyed this blog post leave us a comment. Better still if you like the post and the video share it with your friends

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Behind the scenes we have been involved in an awesome project. We had the privilege of interviewing 12 Social Media Experts; the movers and shakers in Facebook, Twitter, Squidoo, YouTube, LinkedIn, Forums, Podcasting, Social Bookmarking, Blogging, MySpace, StumbleUpon and more!

Interested? Watch the video and stay tuned…

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Most people are familiar with the concept and layouts of  Facebook and twitter, LinkedIn however remains a mystery to most people. LinkedIn has a reputation for being a Social Media site for professionals but this reputation is old fashioned, today LinkedIn is  a legitimate business tool use by a wide variety of people and probably best described as  a social network for business opportunities. On LinkedIn, people don’t chat about music or what they did on Saturday night, but instead focus on opportunities and how the network can help you. And that’s a winning formula. Here are just some of the most common and productive uses of LinkedIn.

So, give us your attention please as Social Traffic Espionage  reveals 8 ways to you can use LinkedIn.  

1. Connect With and Find People.
By now you know that Social Media is all about developing relationships. LinkedIn is no different, it’s a great place to look for old friends, old business colleagues, former employers or employees. Simply do a LinkedIn search and you might be surprised who you know. Remember part of the way you develop relationships with people is by helping them. So don’t miss out on this great opportunity. You can use LinkedIn to promote others, link to with others, recommend other LinkedIn members and of course answer their questions.

2. Boost Your Business
What do all business’s want? Customers of course. So if you are a small or large business you want to generate more customers. LinkedIn can put connect you with those people who are interested in your products. It can increase your chances of hitting that big deal that puts your business exactly where you want to be.

3. Research Companies and Business’s
If you are looking for a specific business, wanting to discover business trends, find an expert in your field, or need to contact people for further information then LinkedIn is a great place to start. Using LinkedIn’s advanced search option you can quickly connected with the information you seek. Take the unknown out of a job interview by looking up the person interviewing you. Checking the LinkedIn profile of the person who will be interviewing you will give you some important information about their work experience, interests, education and more.

4. Get Free Publicity
LinkedIn can be used to generate publicity not only for your business but when you launch a new product. At times it can be difficult to contact media or top bloggers. But many of them have a LinkedIn profile, and you can contact them through the profile. You can get FREE targeted Social Media Traffic for your business by sending them a press release or a quick email letting them know about your business or product launch.

5. Find Your Dream Job
OK you have a job, but it’s not really what you want. LinkedIn can help! Join LinkedIn, put yourself out there, search for companies that are looking for people to fill the jobs that you are interested in and contact them. To assist in promoting yourself to potential employers create a LinkedIn profile that serves as a resume, use a vanity url for this and then send people the URL. Your dream job could be just one click away.

6. Check Out Potential Employees References
If you are going through the interview process you want to make sure you have all the information possible at your fingertips. You can find out additional information about an applicant by using LinkedIn to search for others who worked at the same company at the same time. This way you are able to do a thorough background check in seconds.

7. Get Advice.
Questions, questions we all have them. You can find answers to most of your business questions in LinkedIn. Simply ask a question using LinkedIn’s Answers feature and get some great answers. There are some great experts on LinkedIn, willing to answer your queries.

8. Brand Yourself
Your aim in business, should be to develop a brand. It doesn’t matter what your area of expertise is, you need to develop your own personal brand. You want people to know instantly who you are, and what you do when they hear your name? A strong presence on LinkedIn reinforces your brand. Make sure you include a link to your website from your profile.

If you liked this post, share it with your friends. Did we miss something? We would love to hear your comments

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Its interesting  that most people with Blogs think of the Blog as being  totally different to Social Media Networks such Twitter, Facebook or MySpace. Don’t be fooled, believe it or not blogs are Social Media vehicles and the most important Social Media tool you have.

Recently we were able to talk to Ross Goldberg about Social Media, he told us that your Blog is the cornerstone of your product or business. In fact he said that  every Social Media activity that you use should be linked back to your Blog.

Why are Blogs so important? Why does Ross Goldberg refer to them as the cornerstone or your product and business. To help demystify the importance of your Blog, we would like to share 7 reasons why  your Blog is the most important piece in your Social Media strategy.

1. Content Is King!
   Your Social Media credibility is tied to the amount of content you provide.  To have a significant Social Media presence you must have a certain amount of  content. Blogs are a fantastic tool for creating lots and lots of relevant content. Each time you add a post you increase your Blogs  content creating a  smorgasboard of relevant content that Google and other  search engines love. Generally the more posts you have the  higher  your Blog will rank and the more Social Media  traffic you will get.
2. Desperately Seeking Answers
   Searching for answers is one of  the top 3 main reasons why people use the Internet. People use the search engines to find the answers to their most pressing questions. This is gives you,  the Blog owner a fantastic opportunity, by making sure that your Blog contains the answers to the most searched questions in your content you will attract traffic.  Blogs that have content designed to answer the most pressing questions that  people have in a particular niche can generate massive amounts of traffic for their business. 
3. Blog Stucture,
   The basic structure of a Blog makes it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for.  A Blog organizes your information  effortlessly for the benefit of your visitors. You divide your post topics into categories and subcategories so that your visitors find exactly what they want with minimal effort. They can move easily through the categories, post archives,  move from page to page or simply scroll down the posts.  Social Media is all about developing relationships with your visitors. The structure of a Blog facilitates an enjoyable experience for the visitor who will be likely to return and tell others about the Blog.  
4. Backlinking, Plugins, Pinging, RSS Feed, Comments
   The interactive nature of  Blogs is hard to beat. Plugins, Pinging, Backlinking, RSS Feed capability and the ability of people to add comments all contribute to its interactive nature.  Blogs have some neat  plugins that make SEO optimisation and interacting with other forms of  Social Media effortless. We at Social Traffic Espionage recommend and use the following plugins All in One SEO Pack, Sociable, Twitme. Also don’t forget to have and RSS feed button on your Blog.   
5. Hello World
   Blogs are universal. It’s a fact  that anybody who uses the internet can  access your blog. Social Media networks such as Twitter,  Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn  are accessible only when you join. A Blog allows you to achieve a potentially infinite number of customers for your business.
6. Create Instant and Comprehensive Information
   Posting on a Blog sends instantaneous  and comprehensive information to the web. Social Media networks such as Twitter,  Facebook, LinkedIn send instant information but cannot compete with a Blogs capacity for  comprehensive content.  Blog posts can be as comprehensive as necessary, include links, and  integrate with other Social Media networks.
7. All Roads Should  Lead To Your Blog
   The cornerstone of  your Social Media strategy is your Blog. All of your social media activities should be organised to link back to your blog. Your profiles on Social Media sites  such as  Facebook and Twitter should include a link back to your blog. Articles, YouTube videos, Podcasts should all include a link to your Blog.

By now I am sure you have got the picture, your Blog is the most important part of your Social Media strategy. If you don’t already have a Blog  start one today.  It’s that important. 

If you like the information in this post, feel free to  share it with your friends or leave a comment.

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You know what its  like you build your blog, website, and squidoo lens,  you have a great product  that you are sure people will buy.  BUT you can’t  get any of  the FREE Social  Traffic that everybody tells you is out there.  You have heard the statistics,  facebook 200  million, youtube 80 million. Why aren’t you getting FREE Social Traffic… everybody else is!  Here are 6  great traffic tips that should get you started

1. Don’t just sign up to a Social Media Site , YOU need to participate
You can’t expect to get your share of  the Social Traffic market if you are not participating in Social Media Sites.  Yes,  we know that there are lots and lots of Social Media sites, but you don’t need to join all of them at once. Start with baby steps join one or two of the Social Media Sites, you can always join others later.  Most importantly don’t just sign up and consider that the jobs done, you need to participate not just stand on the sidelines.  How do you participate? That’s easy, join discussions, offer information, include links to useful tools or sites, tips, reply to people who make contact with you. 

2.  Look At Me! Look At Me! Be your own PR machine.
Don’t be shy, there are a number of ways that you can promote you and your business. We have listed just a few to get you thinking

• add your blog, website or squidoo lens url to  your social media sites profiles
•  include an RSS feed
•  include social bookmarking buttons on your blog or website 
•  add an “e-mail this” and “share” tab at the bottom of blog posts
•  add  your blog, website, squidoo lens  address to your e-mail signature
•  submit articles which have links to  your  blog or  website

3. Grab Peoples Attention
Does your blog, website or squidoo lens have neverending  blocks of  text,  text and more text…BORING!  C’Mon this is 2009, we have the tecnology. Make use of  video, podcasts, slide shows and other multimedia to create dynamic content. Don’t be boring

4. Link s
It is crucial that you include links,  links and more links.  You should link to other parts of your blog or website and externally to other peoples  blogs or sites.  Don’t forget about backlinking. Its OK to  ask other blogs to link back to you  and  to add your website to their blog rolls.  Submiiting your blog  to one or more blog  directories is a good idea.

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If you are an Internet marketer you will want to use FREE traffic for your business. This means that you will want to use Social Media. If there is one disadvantage to using Social Media it is that it can take lots and lots of time if you don’t know how to use it properly.

So how do you use Social Media efficiently? The first fact you need to come to grips with is that you can’t market on every Social Media site – there just isn’t enough time or hours in the day. 

If you want to market your product or business  using Social Media you need an efficient  time optimisation strategy.  Therefore it would make a whole lot of sense to include Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn  in your  time optimisation strategy.  Why? Because it’s only logical to make use of the 3 most popular Social Media sites;  Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn. 

How much time should you spend using Social Media? The answer to this depends on your circumstances. Generally there is a relationship between how long marketers have been using Social Media and their weekly time commitment. Usually people just beginning with Social Media, spend about an  average of  two hours per week. However, those who have been using Social Media for a number of months spend about an  average  of 10 hours per week or a bit more than 1 hour a day.

What is the reason for the time difference between Social Media newbies and experts? It’s our opinion that the time spent is related to the people’s experiences. Those who are just starting are unsure of this Social Media buzz – does it really work? They are yet to taste success, but once they have made a sale or start to have success they realise the importance of Social Media and spend more time doing it.

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Marketing your product through videos made by you on YouTube is one of the most effective ways of advertising your product to potential customers. Not sure how to get started, what to do? Stay tuned here are  7 Amazing YouTube tips that will get you started.

 1. Make Your Own Video
Yep that’s right make your own video… you don’t need to hire a professional. All you need to do is to make sure your videos are interesting and unique while allowing your personality or brand to shine through. Remember to put yourself in the viewers shoes and include things that you yourself would probably want to see. Don’t hesitate to inject some humour into the video. Be realistic you will probably have to do a couple of takes, don’t expect to get it perfect the first time.

2. Keep it Short
How short should a YouTube video be? Recently we had the privelege of talking to Ross Goldberg aka Mr Traffic, Frank Sousa and Darren LeCroix. All of these Internet marketing experts agreed that a YouTube video should be precise in its content.  The viewer doesn’t want to know what you had for breakfast, they just want to know what you are giving them. As a guideline your video should be at least 2 minutes but less than 5 minutes.

3.Have A Plan
Think about the audience you want to target. You might be tempted to copy the popular internet marketers, but try to resist since their style may not be your style. As Dr Phil says keep it real, YouTube has millions of videos containing lots of different styles and niches. Take the time to create a draft script that contains what you want to say and how you want to say it. Practice a couple of times before you try to record the video. Saying the words out loud will tell you whether the collection of words you have chosen flow and make sense to the listener.

4. YouTube Video SEO
OK so you have made the video now you need to promote it. We all know it’s no use having it on YouTube if nobody finds it. There is a reason why YouTube has tags, text decriptions and categories for each video that is uploaded. The only way most people are going to find your videos is by searching. This means the words you use for tags, descriptions and categorization are extremely important. They need to match the content of your video.and target the audience you want to attract. You need to make the text description for your video accurate and interesting. Its important to use descriptive keywords and also the language that people will use when they search for videos like yours.

 5. One Video Is Not Enough
You might think that once you have made a video and uploaded it then jobs done. Think again! I am sure that you have been on YouTube and already know that the Internet Marketing Experts like Ross Goldberg and Micheal Chaney have a lot more than one video. The Internet Marketing Experts build a series of similar videos. For starters we recommend that you build at least 10 videos, and then add more videos on a regular basis. We know that 10 videos might seem a daunting task, just remember they dont have to be perfect and they only need to be 2 minutes in length.

6.Go Viral
The ultimate prize for every internet marketer is to have their YouTube videos go viral. Make no mistake this won’t just happen, you will need to take action and promote the videos. The best way to promote these videos is to use other Social Media sites such as twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogs, and so on. But don’t panic it is really easy to post a youtube video on Social Media sites or at the very least to include a link. If you share your video with as many people as you can and they like it they will share it with others….hey presto your videos go viral.

7. Experiment To See What Works
The Internet Marketing Experts are always testing and tweaking their campaigns. Make use of statistics to identity how many people visit your video, how may people visit your product and how many people purchase your product. Its important to create a number of campaigns and see what works. Its similar to a singer writing a number of songs before they find that elusive hit.

Now you know how, stop hesitating, start your  YouTube internet marketing campaign today and get the FREE traffic you deserve.

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Over the last day or so these improvements have been gradually added to homepages.  Initial feedback from users is favourable and although Facebook will attribute this to the changes they have made  - perhaps it is also partly due to Facebook users  feeling less shellshocked second time around.

What Do You Think?
Now that Facebook Version 2 is live, its time for Facebook users to give their feedback. They certainly weren’t shy in providing feedback for Facebook Version 1. Whats  your opinion?

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 Ross Sandler of RBC Capital Markets  gives us a reality check of the situation when he says that based  on its current rate of growth Facebook will be larger that Google by 2012.  Seems incredible doesn’t it –  a social networking site larger than Google.  Before you get all excited by this, remember that these projections are based upon Facebook maintaining its current growth rate.

Facebook is a social network of gigantic proportions. Its sheer size and interactive social community has made it an important Google traffic source.  In fact a  whopping 19% of Google’s sessions now originates from Facebook. To give you a  measure of Facebook’s growth,  last year 9% of all Google sessions came from Facebook.  I am sure that  the  business savvy people at Facebook are aware of  potential benefits this type of growth can create   and they  will not miss the opportunity to use these traffic  statistic as leverage to negotiate a deal with Google.

You don’t have to be a techno geek to know that Google and Facebook are two different entities. Clearly  social and search are two  different things.  I admit that at times they might overlap, but essentially they are two  separate things  that complement each other.  For instance you don’t use Google to tell you what your 1000 friends are up to, nor do you expect Facebook to find the exchange rate for converting  Swiss Francs to  US dollars.  

At present Facebooks growth is a positive event for Google. It is actually increasing Google’s search share when compared to  its rivals.  This  staggering  fact alone  should  have an important impact on any  future monetization  negotiations Facebook might have with Google .  But hang on a minute lets not forget that there  are other  interested parties  like  Microsoft, Yahoo that I  reckon  would also like to make  use of  Facebooks massive growth.

It’s interesting  that a social network like Facebook could overtake Google, but does it mean that Google should be afraid?  Imagine a  world where  Facebook becomes every single person’s  start page. Would  that make Google redundant? Would that be the end of Google?  Personally I can’t imagine the internet without Google.  What do you think?

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