VA Newsday

Guest post by Mark Silver In the spring of 1984, I was ducking out of yet another high school pep rally. I had somehow managed to get the master key to all the classrooms (how did I get that again?) and was hiding out in the school newspaper’s computer lab. I never made it to Social Media for All of Us Old Farts and Dweebs is a post…

People are using the Internet to connect to information, but more importantly, to connect with people. And yet many people seem confused and overwhelmed about the right way to connect through social media channels. Here are 10 ways to really connect with others through social media:

Recently, we surveyed AWeber customers to see what small businesses are doing in their email marketing today, and what you’re planning to do in the future. Here are some findings and analysis from the survey:

Guest post by Ije Ude The experts are wrong when they say fear is one of the biggest obstacles between you and your business success. Well, at least they’re only half right: lack of self-trust is the other half of the equation. During one of my past lives as a youth program coordinator, one of How Social Media Can Help You Trust…

Social networking isn’t a life sentence, and it needn’t take up your every waking (or even spare) moment. There are benefits to be gained through being part of social networks that suit you. So why not give social networking another try?

While the proportion of the time that Britons spend on social networking sites is up (now taking 25 percent, from seven percent in 2007), IM usage has decreased quite markedly, taking just 5 percent of online time, compared to 14 percent three years ago.

Social media is a big part of the marketing world these days. Most net-savvy businesses (including us here at AWeber) have a presence on Facebook and Twitter . That being the case, we’ve found that people are always looking for ways to make their social media and email marketing campaigns work together. Those of you familiar with our service will know that we’ve helped customers automatically tweet their email newsletters for some time now.

Building an effective social networking strategy is essential for creating positive brand recognition for every company regardless of whether they operate online or are a traditional “brick and mortar” type business.

Email marketers are scrambling to cope with Web 2.0. Over 70% consider “competition with social media for recipients’ time and attention” an important challenge for 2010, according to Marketing Sherpa’s 2010 Email Marketing Benchmark Report . So how can you deal with this challenge? [...]

There’s a ripple moving through the marketing world, and it’s bringing change. According to industry experts, customer service is ” the new marketing “. When you take care of your customers, they feel good about you. When they feel good about you, they stick with you. With email marketing , thoughtlessly pushing the same message at your entire customer base is no longer enough. [...]

VA Classroom has announced details of its new 2010 Internet Marketing Specialist Training Program, scheduled to begin April 26. The five-week program will feature live sessions, multimedia instruction and resource lists for a variety of Internet Marketing areas, including marketing planning, affiliate marketing, search marketing, social media and more.

HootSuite has announced the new HootSuite Pro Certification program. This program has been created for Social Media Professionals, Community Managers, Marketers and anyone who wants to learn more about HootSuite and Social Media.

Demand for social media skills has soared in the past year, according to the latest “Online Talent Report” from popular freelancing jobs site, Elance, not just for marketers but for developers, as businesses look to build applications that tap into social networks.

The techniques used for search engine optimization (SEO) are not the same required to get found in social networks like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or LinkedIn; where people are increasingly spending time communicating, finding relevant and interesting content, and sharing it with their connections.

Join New Media thought leader, Brian Solis, to learn how to…

(from Mashable.com)  We used to only be digitally connected via computer for part of the day, but today’s hand-held devices enable a “constantly connected” lifestyle. This presents huge benefits, and its share of challenges. An important question to ask yourself is: Are you going to be constantly overwhelmed by “Stress 2.0,” or can you successfully translate this lifestyle into “Wisdom 2.0?” [...]

I get the question “will social media work for my business?” a lot. For the purposes of this post, I should clarify that the term “social media” doesn’t just refer to the big sites like Facebook or Twitter. It applies to anything interactive that takes place online—including blogs, message boards, video and more. Not every business will benefit from the same exact sites and tools. That being said, it seems there is still a lot of S.M.S. disease going around

VA Classroom, an acclaimed training site for internet marketing and social media VAs, is opening registration for their much anticipated Social Media Marketing Specialist Training Program.  This program is self-directed and focused entirely on using social media networks, LinkedIn, Facebook…