Getting yourself set up online with social media is now becoming an absolute necessity for any business, whether based in a physical location or explicitly online. This article will show you how to effectively market your company using this new marketing outlet. It's not as hard as you might think it is.
To get people to pass your content around, write lists! A list format might seem a bit awkward and silly, but people are more likely to share this type of content than just about anything else. Whether it's a top 10 list of products or a list of ways a product can be used, lists will get people engaged.
To make the most of social media marketing, respond to questions and comments in a very timely manner. You do not want to sit at your desk refreshing your inbox 24/7, but you do want to check in multiple times per day if possible. Anyone asking questions is either a loyal customer you want to retain and get more business from, or an interested prospect who might open their wallet if you give them some personal attention.
When deciding how to implement your social media marketing strategies, it is important to take into consideration the nature of your products and services. For example, if purchasing your products is something that most of your customers would prefer to keep private, then do not put Facebook-like buttons right next to the buy buttons! Eventually, someone will click it accidentally and then get angry at your business.
Be sure to find other bloggers that are in your niche. Read their information regularly and make comments on what they blog about. This will allow you to be seen by them, and they may end up returning the favor for you. In addition, their readers may see the comment you make and want to visit your blog too.
Get your audience attention by launching a mystery campaign. You will need to create a different page and perhaps a micro-site to go with it. Post an intriguing video or picture on as many popular websites as you can: Youtube, Reddit, 4chan, and so on. Promise your readers to reveal more on a certain day, perhaps a week later. This is when you post new content on your micro-site and explain show more of the mysterious video and mention your brand.
Regarding retweets, acknowledge them when you do them and when they are done to you. What this means is if you like what someone tweeted, use "RT" and paste in their @name and the message. This gives them credit for the content. And, if someone retweets your content, thank them. These are simple courtesies.
Things move very fast in social media, and your company will have to adapt quickly to the changes as they come. Just, a few years ago, tablet computers and smart phones did not exist in a mass-produced and publicly available form. Keep an eye on the new technology so that you are better prepared for the changes to your marketing.
Utilize RSS feeds. These all people to subscribe to your feed and have the posts go into their Google Reader account once your feeds are published. This makes your content accessible in an easy-to-access way for your customers. Make the button to subscribe easy to identify, so the whole process takes no effort on the part of those visiting your site.
Make sure you make your profiles public. LinkedIn and Facebook both have privacy settings you can customize: remember that you are creating these profiles to advertise your products, and that you want as many people as possible to see your pages. You can block individual users if you are having issues.
Sign up for Twitter. Get as many followers as you can by signing up for blogging sites like Tweepi.com. Using a site like this makes it easier for people to find you on Twitter. Tweet regularly about other bloggers. You should also automate your tweets so they aren't forgotten about by your followers.
Learn which companies run what sites and find out how they all benefit in their relations. For instance, videos promoted on a Google blogging service have different options and exposure possibilities than on a foreign company. You should learn the pros and cons of each website and use their interactions to your best ability.
When using social media to market a product or service team up with other companies using the same idea. As such whenever a potential customer visits one of their pages there is a chance that they will see your link and click it. In this easy way your customer pool is larger.
To help you attract more visitors, you should promote your site through niche social media sites. What's great about niche social media sites is that they can send you a lot of targeted traffic. Even if the niche site is small, it can still send you quality visitors who are more likely to purchase something from your site because they already have an interest in your product.
To make sure your social media page appeals to your target audience, research books, magazines, and other things you believe they'd enjoy. Try to match the tone of the content you see in your research, and incorporate popular phrases. Doing this will help your target market to trust you and will make them interested in what you have to say.
When marketing your business on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, try to talk like a "person" rather than a "business". People who use these sites are looking for personal interaction. If you can incorporate some of that into your marketing campaign, you will have an edge. Personal conversation that is humble, collaborative, and two-way in nature works best.
As you can see from this article, while social media can seem intimidating for someone who hasn't spent much time on it, it is really quite simple. As far as marketing goes, social media is actually something that is free and simple enough to do yourself without having to hire a professional.
