Social marketing has evolved into a VERY influential type medium whose effects are felt both on and off the internet today. From our recent presidential election, to the public opinion of the California Octuplets\’ mom, social media has had a significant impact.

Spawned from the growing popularity of \’all things web 2.0\’ social network sites are popping up all over the internet. With little surprise it hasn\’t taken online marketers\’ long to see the potential for generating \’free traffic\’ from these sites for their business. If fact if you market anything online and haven\’t included social network marketing into your online business strategies you\’re \’behind the times\’ and missing out.

Effectively speaking social network marketing can be considered an online form of \’word of mouth\’ advertising! These online communities whose intent are to be gathering locations for social interaction are the perfect environment to \’casually\’ mention a new business or product.

These unstructured environments are perfect for any internet user who doesn\’t want to deal with the regimentation associated with many onsite locations.

Undoubtedly both social network and social media sites offer the potential to put your viral marketing efforts on steroids. Imagine the impact these sites can have on your business when used correctly?

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Imagine NOT having to create a \’free giveaway\’ product to gain the viral marketing effects that are so beneficial to any online business? By just visiting and participating at any social network site or perhaps posting photos or videos at a social media location you can gain the same benefits. Does it bother you there would be little \’work\’ involved also?

Let\’s have a look at just a few of the countless social sites found on the internet with a quick synopsis of how they work:

• Digg

This online community is based upon the popularity of news articles. If members like an article it will hit the \’front page\’ of Digg. When this occurs the potential for thousands of visitors exist to view the article. If you can tailor your article to the apparent likes of this community and rank highly there is the possibility of a landslide of visitors to your site.

• Delicious

This social bookmarking site allows you to store your \’favorites\’ at their site. By viewing the favorites of other members you can better determine their reading interest. With this information you can organize a more effective marketing approach suitable to their likes or perhaps determine they\’re not a candidate for what you have to offer.

• You Tube

This site uses short videos and viral marketing to the max. There must be something to it since even the Pope can be found here! By simply posting a short video of interest due to its humor or sensationalism you can generate significant traffic for your cause.

• LinkedIn

This online community focuses on working professionals. Like many other online communities you can locate categories or niches within the site that better relates to your field of interest or experience. The ability to offer services or products to like minded professionals allows you to target an audience with a pre-determined interest in what you may have to offer.

Ah yes no doubt I\’ve left out one of your favorite sites but wait! I may just include it with the following \’all encompassing\’ sentence. Just \’Google\’ web 2.0 sites and then sit back and see if your favorite can be found.

Harnessing the unlimited potential of social marketing is not difficult. Heck even a caveman can do it! By simply \’socializing\’ at few of these online communities and casually mentioning your business, product, or cause would be all it takes. Your results likely would be a significant surge of free traffic to your site!

Consumers of today are very picky in accepting what is meant to be targeted to them. Having gained a control over the marketplace, they will downrightly resist adverts to cause the marketers think on how to be of relevance and making sense to them. The new social media connection between the two, the marketers and the customers, is working great as, pretty interestingly, both have welcomed it.

Engaging customers over Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn would not be a tough task if a practical step-by-step approach is taken.

On Facebook, you can go this way: Create a personal profile – develop a Fan Page – supportive customers will be pulled in – create Events and promote them – form Groups to make ongoing conversations happen – create and run advertisements – make an effective use of “Like” button

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The use of Twitter can be made as:Monitor how your company, products, services, field, and competitors are spoken about – pull together the valuable feedback about your products or services – turn on a proactive customer service – promote events – channelize traffic to your website or blog

LinkedIn can be used this way: First create that essential Profile – import contacts and you may find existing LinkedIn members among them – use LinkedIn Answers to manifest your knowledge and expertise – direct your Twitter and blog feeds in

Following these clear step-by-step instructions, one can make even the most reluctant marketer become an effective part of social media presence. Being social is equivalent to being marketable these days. To consciously undertake it, a smart mobile will be of great convenience catching the process up gradually, one step at a time. Slow and steady has a long way to go here.

Anybody who figures social media for a fad or flash in the pan hasn’t consulted the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s journalism students or alumni. We took a moment to ask a few members of Homecoming 2011′s Department of Journalism student and alumni Tweetup — a face-to-face gathering of Twitter social media users — why they believe social media matters as we move deeper into the 21st Century. Here is a quick video encapsulation of their answers, including some thoughts by Tweetup featured alumni speaker, Troy Janisch, ’89, the social media manager for American Family Insurance and popular blogger (@socialmeteor).
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Social media has the ability to connect with a bigger audience quickly and can help to increase the number of followers and prospects and improve brand credibility. Having a social media presence often has unexpected benefits, but to leverage them, you may need to be opportunistic and up to date on current events and trends. Most brands are already using social media, but it needs to be used efficiently to benefit your business. Strategists and practitioners will learn that failing to plan is planning to fail, so with a little planning it is possible to make social media integration work to your benefit.

Social media is essentially a channel, service or network used for intelligence, communication and visibility. If lucidity and genuineness were prevailing maxims over past years, it is accountability, metrics and outcomes that will serve as the foundation for social media success in the coming years ahead. It takes more than just a Facebook or Twitter presence; effective social media integration needs to address business dynamics. It is a real-time communications tool that can be integrated into any aspect of your business. Many companies treat social media as its own entity and a new department of their company.

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Evaluate your objectives for a flawless integration

It is important to ascertain the main goals and objectives of your business. If the objective of the company is to increase sales, it is necessary to understand the current strategies for increasing sales. Before social media integration it may have been your strategy to increase the number of customers by increasing brand awareness. This would have been possible by advertising in magazines or putting up billboards. With social media integration, the strategy remains the same, only the medium changes. Keeping that in mind, you can then advertise on your Facebook page or give out a promotional code to your Twitter followers thereby allowing you to track your results.

Social media allows easy integration into the other aspects of your business. While it is one thing to be involved in social networks like Facebook and Twitter, it is a whole other thing to integrate these networks and communities into your marketing strategies. A social media marketing strategy entails taking the time to step back, assess your organizational aspirations, and align them to your social media goals to engage your customers and donors and enhance your online brand and reputation.

Social media integration for effective results

An effective social media solutions gives you goals and metrics to ensure that your efforts have a lasting impact. You can develop a trusting relationship once you have spent the time listening to and engaging with your customer and constituents. Your followers become contributors and advocates, spreading your message and in turn increasing traffic and revenue.

 

Social media is all about user engagement, thought sharing and sound discussion on relevant issues. This engagement plays a momentous role in product branding and brand establishment. To keep track of this engagement process, market experts take advantage of several social media branding and analysis tools widely available. These monitoring tools put considerable effort to fight spam and negative branding across the web. In this article, I elaborate some goal-focused branding and measurement tools, social media experts frequently use.

Addictomatic: This well-known social media tool helps users to search the web for current and latest websites with the latest news, blogs, hundreds of videos and images. The tool extends big help to track the hottest events and topics running across the communities. You may also track the feed, people share and customize dashboard with latest headlines on various topics of your choice.

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Boardtracker: If you have a need to explore audience who influence, monitor and protect your brand over the web, Boardtracker is the right tool to do the things rightly. It’s a kind of a forum search engine equipped with message tracking and instant alerts system utilities. These additions help social media experts to provide relevant information about an important forum thread. In this tool, you can pre-define the search terms and preferences to get instant notifications via emails as soon a matching thread we track at any of the forums.

Google Alerts: Old is gold. Proverb falls right with Google alerts. Being another premiere social media tracking tool, it helps marketers to allow you to set up keyword searches for the organization or competitors. With Google alerts, you can have alerts and updates through email inbox or as an RSS feed. If you need a fairly popular tool to manage your social media campaign, Google alerts is the last answer.

Klout: Another milestone based SM tool is popularly known as Klout that helps social media experts to leverage their brand influence across the social networks. Klout effectively measures influence in Twitter to find those people who are active on the network with their thoughts and views. Identifying and categorizing top influencers across the social networks is the primary execution plan, Klout works on.

Monitter: This tool is specially designed to monitor Twitter. The tool lets users monitor and track the tweets across the web. It provides a search box to the social media experts where they put a set of defined keywords set to know what are being said across Twitter about the products and services.

How do you set up a Facebook FanPage that will Actually attract Fans???

If you have your own business, then you probably know by now that, even if your business is a physical bricks-and-mortar establishment such as a Real Estate business or a Flower shop, establishing a well-known and well-branded Online Presence is one of the most important things for you to do.

And setting up a Facebook FanPage to communicate with your customers, advertise upcoming sales or promotions and attract new business or clientele is one of the most fun and effective ways to do so!

So…what are some of the top and most important Social Media Strategies for setting up a truly effective Facebook FanPage for your business?

Here are the Top 3 Facebook Fan Page Strategies that You should be Using Now to Build Your Brand and Attract More Fans!

1-  Be “Like-able”: First of all you need to understand that when it comes to Social Media one of the top rules is to actually connect and be Likeable!!  And if your Facebook Fan page doesn’t reflect the kind of atmosphere that your target audience is looking for then they probably won’t stick around for long!

2-  Stay Current and Update Your Facebook Fan Page Frequently: Another important Facebook Fan page strategy is to be sure to keep your page fresh and current with relevant and helpful tips and advice or news about your particular business or store.  Do you have any giveaways that you’re hosting? Let your fans know!  Did you recently write an amazing and helpful article full of amazing tips that your fans would want to hear about??  Post it on your fan page!!  If you let your page get old and stagnant and don’t update it regularly, your fans will get bored and stop following you, so be sure to stick with it and keep it fresh and exciting!

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3-  Keep Your Facebook Fan Page Social & Make it Interactive: Now this is one of the Facebook Fan Page strategies that seems to be the most tricky for people, but remember, the key to being interactive is to remember that Facebook is a SOCIAL Media!  It is all about connecting, being social and cultivating relationships.  Ultimately, it really doesn’t matter how flashy or impressive your fan page is if you aren’t using it to truly connect with your friends and fans!

Join the Conversations!! Now, taking it just a step further…. if you really want to take your Facebook Fan Page Strategy to the next level, then something you CANNOT afford to overlook is the importance of YOU actually participating in the conversations and comments going on on your Fan page!
Stay in Control! Don’t just set up your page and then leave it for your fans to take over and create a bulletin board full of spam and links that do nothing to support your business or the purpose of your fan page.  Monitor your Facebook FanPage daily to be sure there is no spam or links that you don’t want to be a part of your page.
Talk and Listen! Don’t just use your page as a means for advertising for your business.  Your Facebook Fan Page can also be an excellent way to listen to your audience and find out their needs and wants.   Social Media, and Facebook specifically, provides a unique opportunity for businesses to really engage your customers and potential customers and then improve their services and products by getting to know even better what they want!  So be sure to have true, 2-way conversations on your fan page.  When your fans make a comment or ask questions, be sure to respond.  The more you can add value and connect with your fans, the more effective your fan page will be!

True, it can take a little extra effort on your part to take the time to engage the fans and clients on your page but going that extra mile is the most important part of a successful Facebook Fan Page Strategy that will help to encourage your fans and customers to keep coming back!  And ultimately, that’s the whole goal of setting up an Online Presence with a Facebook Fan Page.  You want to promote an exceptional brand right?  Well, following these tips will ensure that you do just that.  Cultivate relationships, add value and connect with your fans!

Next,  continue learning more about developing an effective Facebook Fan Page Strategy with the Top Online Internet Marketing Techniques of a Free Social Media Marketing Plan.

 

Related Free Social Media Monitoring Articles

The democratization or democratic participant theory emphasizes and supports the following mentioned thing’s importance:

The media’s multiplicity;
Local nature of media;
Usage of the media in small scale;
De-institutionalizing media;
Reciprocal part of recipient or communicator;
Horizontal media;
Involvement and interaction.

Democratization / Democratic Participant Media Theory’s staple principles are summarized by Mc Quail, in the year 1987. The principles are mentioned below:

Minority-groups and individuals must be capable of enforcing the claims made by them for:
Freedom of approaching to media;
Freedom of asking for the service against the needs, demanded by them, to the media.
Media’s organization and message’s content should be designed in such a way that it is not affected by the bureaucratic and political control.
Media’s existence should be proved in respect of the interests and need of the recipients & should not be justified in respect of interests and needs of media entity, professional workers of media or the advertisers.
Communities, organizations and groups must own media individually.
Participatory, small-scale and interactive types of the media have been considered of more profit in comparison to unidirectional and large-scale media. The later are taken into use by only professional-media-workers.
Generally, needs of the society are not taken into consideration by the set media.
Democratic Participant Media Theory considers communication or mass media as very important and should be managed by the professionals.

Democratic-participant theory is in the support of following points:

Freedom to associated local data.
Freedom for answering back
Freedom for using new communication means for the purpose of interaction
Freedom of taking social-action in community, subculture’s and interest-group’s small-scale settings.

There was a challenge given by the theory to the requirements for & desirability of centralized, uniform, professionalized, commercialized, state-controlled or high-cost media. Instead of these above mentioned media, encouragement should be given to small-scale, multiple, local, committed or non-institutional media, as these media link the senders with the receivers & also give favor to interaction’s horizontal designs or patterns.

Theory’s practical aspects are varied and many, including alternative or underground press, micro-media’s availability in the rural areas, community-cable TV, wall-posters and media designed for ethnic-minorities and women. Interaction and participation are the important concepts of the democratic participant media theory. This theory has been considered as reaction. It is expresses by this theory that the faith in a people has been broken by the disillusionment’s sense with the established parties of politics & with the system of media. Media should not be taken in use for empowering and stimulating pluralistic-groups. Democratic participant theory, unlike the social-responsibility theory, focuses on the new small-media’s development which the members of the group can control directly.

I  Introduction                                          
It is always in times of greatest strain that legal boundaries are most important.  The US governtment has been able to conclude with a number of countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, a ‘Non–Surrender Treaty’ and continues vigorously to negotiate with numerous countries all over the globe.  The target of this agreement is poor and weak countries all over the world.  And the object of this agreement is the establishment of a legal relationship between the developing states and the United States of America under which US military and civilian personnel suspected of committing international crime on the sovereign territory of these states (including their quasi-territories such as ships and aircrafts) will not be turned over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or in other words, will enjoy immunity from the jurisdiction of the ICC, while the developing states will benefit in terms of economic and military aid. An international agreement of this nature undermines not only the sovereignty, independence and the principles equality of states but importantly violates some of the principles of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties to which USA and some of the signatory states are parties.
Ghana became one of the independent states compelled by circumstances to sign the ‘Non– Surrender Treaty’ with the US not in a normative void, but against a backdrop of established international law. In Ghana, the document received parliamentary approval through ratification on 30th October 2003 with a vote of 101 in favour, 53 against and no abstention (See, Daily Graphic of 31st October, 2003).  The parliamentary approval was manifested by clear partisan approach but that is not the focus of the present article.

The present article seeks to set out the fundamental principles and general rules governing the conclusion of treaties of this nature; the extent to which the ‘Non– Surrender Treaty’ between the US and other states (some of which had already accepted the obligations of the Rome Statute) violates the principles and rules of international law and order.  The article does not address the substantive issues in the ‘Non-Surrender Treaty’ itself in any detailed form due to the limited scope, nor advocate any position beyond the application of international law as set out here.  Apart from looking at the situation as in Ghana, the aim is to provide a resource for those grappling with many legal questions raised by the situation so far as the Rome Statue and the ‘Non–Surrender Treaty’ are concerned. The article attempts answering general questions which include the following. What is the fate of a treaty that violates international legal principles embodied in the United Nations Charter? Whether and in what circumstances is the use of coercion permissible in treaties? Whether the ‘Non–Surrender Treaty’, a bilateral treaty, violates the Rome Statute (a multilateral treaty) or contradict with any existing peremptory norm of international law, and what can be done in this situation?  

II   In violation of the Principles of the UN
The principle of sovereign equality of states include respect for the sovereignty of all states irrespective of economic or military power. The principle of sovereign equality of states is embodied in Article 2(1) of the United Nations Charter, which states that “the organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its members” Interpretation of that principle is given in many authoritative international documents and especially in the Declaration on Principles of International Law of 1970 which is binding on the organization and all its members.  Sovereignty means a state’s complete authority over its own territory and independence in international relations.  Accordingly, that principle obliges a state to respect the full authority of any other state over its own territory and its independence from other states constituting sovereign entities that are juridically equal.  Unfortunately, the same international law contains principles and norms that sanctioned its violation. For example, states under the cover of the principle of self-defence wage war against one another and they always try to justify their course of action on the basis of such principles.  
In modern international law the substance of the principle of sovereign equality of states is wider.  It includes the following proposition:
Each state has the duty to respect its territorial integrity and political independence of other states;
All states are juridically equal.  They have equal rights and obligations as members of the international community irrespective of differences in their economic, social and political system.
States may create norms of international law through agreements on the basis of equal rights, no one state or group of states can impose on another or other states norms of international law that it creates itself.
The last of the above three substances is of primary concern here with regard to the ‘Non- Surrender Treaty’.
Of course, the legal equality of subjects of international law does not imply their acutual equality.  There is a certain contradiction between the principle of sovereign equality of states and their actual equality. We can only talk of equity and not equality. There are states with small population (e.g. Togo with 6.6 million) and others whose population are a thousand times larger (e.g. China with  ) entering into agreement on equality basis..  In the same way we are witnessing a situation in which a rich, influential and powerful state like the USA is entering into a bilateral agreement with poor and weaker states.  
The legal equality and independence of sovereign states confers upon each state the right of conduct its internal affairs free from the interference of other states, subject only to the rules of international law. This is known as the doctrine of non-intervention and as the International Court explicitly observed in Nicaragua v United States (Merits) (1986) ICJ Reports, p. 14, at p. 106.
‘The existence in the opnio juris of states of the practice of non-intervention of backed by established practice. It has moreover been presented as a corollary of the principle of the sovereign equality of states.’

States are obliged to refrain from action which may be construed as ‘intervention’ in the sovereign affairs of other states. The classical definition of the term ‘intervention’ was elaborated in the following passage:
‘Intervention is dictatorial interference by a state in the affairs of another state for the purpose of maintaining or altering the actual condition of things… Intervention can take place in the external as well as the internal affairs of a state …But it must be emphasized that intervention proper is always dictatorial interference, not interference pure and simple’. Oppenheim, L. International Law (Eighth edition, 1955), Vol. I, para, 134.

Intervention has become synonymous with the use of force. This was clearly recognized by the international Court in the Corfu Channel Case (Merits) (1949) ICJ Reports, p. 4. In reply to the contentions of the United Kingdom that mines weeping operations in Albanian waters had been carried out for the purposes of obtaining evidence for subsequent international litigation, the Court made the statement that:

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‘The Court can only regard the alleged right of intervention as the manifestation of a policy of force, such as has, I the past, given rise to most serious abuses and such as cannot, whatever be the present defects in international organization, find a place in international law…’

Attempts have been made to ascertain the content of the principle of non-intervention. General Assembly Resolution 2131 (XX) of December 14, 1960 concerning the Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention into the Domestic Affairs of States, declares the following duties to be a consequence of the principle of non-intervention:
i)    No state has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reasons whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other state. Armed intervention and all other forms of interference or attempted threats against the personality of the state or against its political, economic and cultural element, are condemned.

ii)    No state may use or encourage the use of economic, political or any other type of measures to coerce another state in order to obtain from it the subordination of the exercise of its sovereign rights to secure from it advantages of any kind. Also, no state shall organize, assist, foment, finance, incite or tolerate subversive, terrorist or armed activities directed towards the violent overthrown of the regime of another state, or interfere in civil strife in another state.

These statements were reiterated in the General Assembly Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relation and Co-operation among States in Accordance with the Charter other United Nations, GA Resolution 2625 (XXV), of October 24, 1970.

Since independent, the principle of sovereign equality remains one of the manifestations of African states.  It serves to ensure each state’s free development and to protect them from policies of diktat and subordination as they currently possess a numerical superiority in universal international organizations.  The only guarantee for the poor countries in achieving real equality and non interference is to be mindful of basic value underlying any agreements they enter into with the rich and powerful nations and the objective which these agreement seek to attain should bear directly on long term national interest and security of their states.  The political cost should not be higher than the benefit to be derived from those states through gift of cash and military hardware.  Unfortunately this is not the case we see in recent times but rather increasing number of unequal treaties which have no real value for the poor states.  This of course leads us to the next discussion concerning the illegal imposition of the \’Non-Surrender Treaty’ on selected poor and weak states around the globe.
III  Treaties concluded under coercion of force and threat of force
Treaties represent the explicit intention of states to be bound by agreed terms within the treaty document. It is this voluntary assumption of obligation that lies at the heart of international law. The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969 is an important Convention, codifying some aspects of treaty law and innovative in other aspects.
Under the Convention, a number of reasons and causes may justify a treaty being declared invalid. The reasons may include: error relating to a fact (Art.48), fraudulent misrepresentation of stat authority (Art. 49), corruption during negotiation (Art. 50) and Coercion (Art. 51, 52). Apparently, there is no evidence established  for the first three causes so far as the non-surrender treaty is concerned. But, by implication, it is certain that there is a convincing element of coercion which can be discussed here.

Consent on the part of a state to a contractual obligation shall have no legal effect if it was procured:
By the coercion of the representative of the state (Article 51); or
By the threat or use of force in violation of the principles of international law embodied in the United Nations Charter (Article 52).

In the Fisheries Jurisdiction Case (Jurisdiction) (1973) ICJ Reports, p. 14, the International Court observed that:
‘There can be little doubt, as is implied in the Charter of the United Nations and recognized in Article 52 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, that under contemporary international law an agreement concluded under the threat or use of force is void. It is equally clear that a court cannot consider an accusation of this serious nature on the basis of a vague general charge unfortified by evidence in its support.’

The Court displayed a similarly restrictive approach to the application of this principle in Case Concerning the Territorial Dispute between Libya and Chad in 1955.

The World Federalist Association (WFA) report carried by the Ghanaian media in 2003 states that the US was threatening to withhold .28 million worth of military aid if the countries by November 1, 2003 did not give their consent to granting American Citizen immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC).  The 32 countries which faced US threat of sanctions included Ghana.  This presumably compelled Ghana to quickly ratify the agreement without any serious considerations and consultations.  Policies to establish military bases on territories of other states (which are nuclear free states)  amounts to “twisting arms”  and  is clear  violation of Articles 51 and 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.  Moreover, the coercion of state as demonstrated in the ‘Non- Surrender Treaty’ makes the treaty invalid especially when this entails the threat or use of force, as embodied in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter.

A right to participate in a treaty whether bilateral or multilateral attaches directly to interested states but must be on the basis concordance of the wills of interested states.  
ie – states whose legitimate interest bear directly on the object of the treaty.  The Non – Surrender Treaty is not a treaty of economic or social cooperation to talk of mutual benefit but a cooperation in which one party (Ghana) agrees to defy an international agreement.  It is also important to note that, the right of Ghana to conclude a bilateral treaty with any other state exists independently whether or not other state do the same or other states recognise that state or its government.  Similarly the existence of diplomatic or consular relations between corresponding states is not a prerequisite for concluding a treaty.  A rupture of such relations does not entail cessation of its operation unless the treaty’s execution requires such relations, tt is therefore wrong for any state to refer to the number of states that have approved or disapproved an agreement as a basis of its own action or non-action towards an agreement.  In the early years of Ghana’s independence Ghana led other African countries in foreign policy and others follow.  Today it is the Vise–vesa and it is becoming more difficult to take independent decisions in our external relations because we have failed to find alternatives in the solution of problems that lead us in subordination to the wills and interest of the rich and powerful nations.  One can not reject the statement by Kwame Boafo – Arthur that “even though Dr. Nkrumah in some instances adopted subversive, aggressive and hostile policy orientation centered essentially on African Unity, decolonization and national development that constitute the moving force in Ghana’s foreign policy.  In fact in the past Ghana was an object in the light of world opinion in relation to events of umcompromising antagonism of the social forces for the direction of social economic development.  Ghana is unable to sustain the leadership role though with the full capacity of sustainability.
As a general rule a treaty is absolutely invalid if it has been null and void ab initio (from the very first stage).  
The ‘Non–Surrender Treaty’ suggests, from the preparatory stage, a notion of “first class and second class citizens” in the administration of international justice involving those who commit various crimes against humanity.

IV Contradictions between the non-surrender treaty and Rome statute
The norms of international law are divided into non- mandatory norms and preremptory norm.  Non-mandatory are norms from which states can deviate though mutual agreement if this does not harm the right and legitimate interest of other states.  Peremptory norms are norms from which no derogation is permitted even by mutual agreement, and treaties contraditing such norms are legally void (Art 53 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties).  It follows therefore that with regard to the principle of the non–use of force or threat in international relations, the ‘Non-Surrender Treaty’ between US and other states violates that prinicple and therefore invalid.  If the treaty is invalid as a result of a contradiction with an existing peremtory norm of internaional law then its signatories are obliged, as far as possible, to remove the consequences of any action carried out on the basis of the terms of the treaty contradicting that norm.  If on the other hand, the treaty is declared unvalid as a result of the emergency of a new imperative norm, this does not influence the rights and obligations of the signatories resulting from the treaty before its termination, provided that the rights and obligations themselves do not contradict that imperative norm.  The basic cause for the emergence of peremptory norms is the growng internationlization of various aspects of social life especially of economic life, and the increasing role of global international problems.  This serves to increase the number of issues whose uncontrolled regulation on a local multilateral or bilateral basis may harm the interest of other states.  It is time all states are unanimous in considering that peremptory norms include above all the basic principles of modern international Law.

Article 98(2) of the Rome Statue which provides that the ICC may not proceed with a request for surrender that would require the requested state to act inconsistently with its obligations under international agreements, only provides an orderly process for handling of suspects among States cooperating with the ICC.  It must not be narrowly interpreted to mean that a state which has refused to cooperate with the court is free to negotiate bilateral agreement that secure exemption for its citizens from presecution.  Such an interpretation undermines not only the common objective which the Rome statue  seeks to attain but seriously devides the international community into two groups namely the equal (superior) and unequals (inferior).  While the US seeks for  its citizens from surrender to the ICC, immunity it is ready to pay for the arrest and extradiction of other citizens suspected of international crime to the international court of Justice and the International criminal court that it undermines.  Above all there is a hierarchy between norms of the United Nations Charter and those of other international treaties.  According to Art 103 of the charter, “in the event of a conflict between the obligations of members of the United Nations under the present charter and their obligations under any other international agreement, their obligations under the present  charter shall prevail.  In particular,one should distinguish the bilaterl Non- Surrender Treaty concluded by Ghana with the US from the Rome Statue whose obligation Ghana had accepted. While according to international law, both are binding on Ghana in the event of collision, priority will be given to Rome statute concluded at the multistate level of course, parties to a treaty may decide to proceed other wise.

Note that the US does not approve the Rome statute just the same way it refused to sign with the International Court of Justice which is the principal body of the UNO.  International law does not precluse the exercise of treaty based universal jurisdiction over the nationals of Non-Party states and in fact this pracitice is vital to the fight against international crimes.  Through the implementation of the ICC statute, a number of states that previously lacked legislation have enacted universal jurisdiction legislation which enable them to exercise such jurisdiction over the crimes within the ICC statute:  genocide and crimes against humanity.  Recent law reform efforts in national systems, brought on in large part by ratification of the ICC statute which at the time of writing, currently stands at 42 states including Ghana, have contributed to the system of international justice.  It is sad, therefore, to see signatory states to the Rome statute undermining a treaty which is in their own interest considering the aumorous war crimes and genocide in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.  As it has not entered into force and will not have retroactive effect (Article II), the ICC statute is not yet binding as a treaty law.  Negotiated over more than five intense years by some 160 states, the statute may, however, provide guidance on customary law, although this must be treated with some caution.  It has been noted  – in Art 10 of the statute itself and by commentators – that the ICC definitions do not necessarily reflect customary process that gave rise to the statute it is in several respects more restrictive than customary law requires.  It is relevant therefore to look not only at the statute buta also other interpretative sources.  With this in mind the statute itself notes at Art 10, that “nothing in this part shall be interpreted as limiting or prejudicing in any way existing or developing rules of international law for the pruposes other than this statute.”

V  Conclusion
In the particular situation at hand, if international consensus is infact sufficiently cohesive, the inertia that has so often been cause by lack of political will and division in international opinion (at least of poor and weak states) may not arise.  The acceptance of ‘Non-Surrender Treaty’ by Ghana means it is unable to take decisive measures necessary for her independent existence.  Exempting the current situation from framework of international law will discredit and undermine the universality of the rule of  law, laying the foundation for future violations.

It seems that just about everybody these days are exercising an extreme amount of caution when making purchases. In these dark and troubled economic times, it is absolutely essential for individuals of all income and tax brackets, rich and poor alike, to cut corners wherever possible, to ensure that their financial solvency is not threatened. People have to be sure that a particular expense is absolutely necessary before they go through with the purchase. The halcyon days of wanton spending are long gone, swiftly replaced by an era of frugal efficiency. It is important for companies in every industry to fundamentally change the way they do business in this day and age to account for these changes in everyday spending habits.

 

This is especially true in the medical profession. People want to make sure that their medical needs are met without going broke. And as the prices of medical treatments steadily increase, while wages remain stagnant and inflation looms around every corner, it is absolutely essential for frugal minded individuals to get the most mileage for every dollar they spend on medical services. This is why so many medical practitioners of all shapes and sizes, from small rural practices to large hospitals, have enlisted the dependable services of a company that specializes in the unique field of consumer health public relations.

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So why would so many medical practitioners, who are financially strapped in some cases themselves, spend a considerable amount of time, money, and effort to procure the services of a company that specializes in the unique field of consumer health public relations? The answer, quite simply is profit. A finely tuned and well oiled company that specializes in the unique field of consumer health public relations can help to generate business for medical practitioners by preserving their stellar reputations among peers and the general public alike. By controlling how people think about a particular medical practice or private office, a company that specializes in the unique field of consumer health public relations can drive business up by highlighting all the good things about a particular medical practices and drawing attention away from the darker sides of the medical practice.

 

This difficult feat is accomplished by using every imaginable weapon in the consumer health public relations firm’s arsenal. This means making considerable inroads in social media. Many popular social media sites serve as a springboard of ideas, and thus it is often the first arena to be broached by a company that specializes in the unique field of consumer health public relations. Social media presents a number of benefits for consumer health public relation companies in that it can reach a large number of people without spending a ton of money. This makes it ideal for young medical practitioners or other up and comers to get their feet wet, and hopefully increase business and brand awareness.

 

Another tool in the tool box of many companies that specialize in consumer health public relations is print media. Print is most certainly not dead, as some successful people would insinuate. It has simply taken on a new form. Digital book readers have been rising in popularity and can be a highly effective and valuable tool for any company that specializes in the unique field of consumer health public relations. By arranging for ads or even interviews, a consumer health public relations company can hope to accentuate the many positive attributes of a particular medical practice, thereby increasing revenue.

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Social Media Broadcasting: An Overview

Social media broadcasting is all about using the plethora of social media and networking sites to get your brand identity out there and visible to its intended market audience. Whoa! In English please! Ok, so we know that not all business owners understand how each and every cog in their enterprise works. After all, you’re an entrepreneur, not an accountant, marketing agent, public relations manager, etc. That’s what you hire other people to do. But what you should understand about modern day marketing is that since the advent of sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, the entire realm of advertising has made a massive shift onto the Internet. Social media broadcasting is now an incredibly effective way that you – the proud business owner – can make a big impact upon the people who you wish to appeal to: potential customers and/or existing customers.

 

Social Media Broadcasting: The Benefits

There are about 500 different social media and networking sites, all of which are designed to connect people of every culture, country, age, background, interest and occupation imaginable. Facebook alone has a membership of truly staggering proportions… 500 million at the last count! By using sites like Facebook (and the hundreds of others that are similar in nature) for social media broadcasting means that you have millions and millions of people listening. Also, it’s free! You don’t have to pay for membership on these sites, nor do you have to cough up cash to post information on them. Social media broadcasting is all about creating keen online visibility for your business so that when people need a product or service that you happen to supply, the first name that will pop into their heads is yours!

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Social Media Broadcasting: The Marketing Rule of Seven

One of the core philosophies of marketing and advertising is the ‘Rule of Seven’ and it goes a little something like this:

 

Every time you walk down the street to work, you pass a poster for a concert to be held that weekend. You take scant notice of it the first time. That same poster appears in the subway and you pass it without paying attention the second time either. Your favorite coffee shop also has the same concert advertised and yet again, you barely see it. It’s only after seven times of seeing the same poster in different places that you actually stop and think “what’s this all about? I’ve seen this poster everywhere; it must be saying something important”. It’s at this stage that curiosity wins and you lean in to read what the poster has to say. You may not buy tickets to see that particular concert, but the next time you feel like a night of great music you will actively seek out what’s going on at that concert venue to see what kind of events they have lined up. And that’s the marketing Rule of Seven! If people see your social media broadcasting efforts – be it a blog, newsletter, online advertisement or whatever – seven times, they will remember you! The next time they need whatever it is you specialize in, they will most probably come knocking at your door.

 

Social Media Broadcasting: A Final Note

 

Social media broadcasting is making a huge impact upon the profitability of business online and without using this incredible tool for communication, you are only putting your company at a disadvantage to its competitors.

 

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While pr along with promoting have constantly had a similar standard objective, to enhance business appearance, there’s traditionally been a relatively apparent split regarding the two. Social media PR is undoubtedly adjusting that. Usually, Public relations involved dealing with the newspapers, while marketing was initially about marketing campaigns. Nonetheless, now that social media monitoring has made it practical for even small companies to do something as his or her very own publishing house, absolutely anything from healthcare communications to shoe advertising campaigns could get into the exact same umbrella term.

 

One of the fundamental shifts in perception that have been created is the requirement for a far more optimistic method. Traditionally, pr had been pretty much a reactive trade. It concentrated primarily on “spin doctoring.” The modern pr is focused on turning into a section of the conversation, participating in one on one discussion with your clients, being attentive to their suggestions, and answering it not simply with words but through action.

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This specific brand-new strategy is a lot more positive. Companies are motivated to begin a weblog where they can converse not only about theirselves, but about events in the industry as a whole. Opinions provided, help develop a company identity that consumers are able to connect with. Content material created by companies needs to be presented in a simple to share format. The article on its own needs to be dealt with a lot more like a product than whatever else. And once customers appreciate your appearance, they can be very likely to actually open up his or her handbags and wallets.

 

Another critical change is the fact that organizations will essentially make use of reassuring their clientele to make their own individual content. Competitions, surveys, along with crowd-sourced assignments engage clients along with your brand. This helps generate not only brand name attention, but a brandname tradition. Ultimately, transparency is emphasized more currently than ever. Definitely, your corporation design will determine exactly how much transparency is achievable, but letting your customers in on how your corporation succeeds is a wonderful way to create confidence.

 

Finally, social media monitoring is word of mouth advertisement. Listening in on healthcare communications and brand name conversations will allow for the current business to genuinely adjust to their clients and concentrate on the most influential among them. Social media PR is a completely new ball game.

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