Social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, are some of the most important business opportunities to hit the world in a long time. Using social sites can be an incredibly low cost way of effectively building your business, by reaching virtually an unlimited amount of customers. The tips contained in this article will help you begin to use social media for marketing your business.
If Twitter is being used as part of your marketing strategy, you must be responsive and consistent. Give people thanks when they mention you, and give them answers to questions they ask you. This creates a growing and interactive relationship rather than a simple “company to consumer” transaction. This will also help you to create a real identity, rather than just appear to be a screen name that sits behind a business.
Use Twitter to help promote your company. If your business develops an effective Twitter-based strategy, you could possibly gain exposure from hundreds, or thousands, of potential customers. Familiarize yourself with the use of effective keywords and hashtags to generate traffic for your Twitter presence.
It is critical to interact with the people who post questions and comments on your social media feeds. Check your profile a couple of times each day so that you do not miss anything.
If Twitter is part of your social marketing plan, write tweets that have interesting, compelling and varied content. Send out Tweets that contain suggestions and tips that relate to your products and the issues they aim to resolve for your customers. If you combine this type of tweet with business promotional ones, those who follow you are likely to hang around.
To be successful in the field of social media marketing, you will need to fake your voice until you can find your place in the field. Find out how your competition uses social media for their marketing purposes, and get ideas from them until you have an idea of what will work best for your customers and your business. Look up their social profiles, the type of specials they have, and the messages that they post.
When you start a blog and post to it regularly, be sure that you insert a Facebook button on the page that allows readers to share your blog. This enables visitors who read your content to immediately share it with their friends who might be interested. This will exponentially increase the number of potential visitors to your website, and thus increase sales.
Don’t push products, so that you can get more followers through social media marketing. Consider mixing in a few interesting stories, product reviews, or related external links. Ask questions, run contests, and post pictures. Engage those that follow you. Instead of focusing on product placement, focus on product engagement. The best way to create a lifetime customer is to get them to make your brand a part of their everyday lives, rather than just thinking of it as “a product to buy once.”
Do not be afraid to ask for help with your social media marketing. Tap into the expertise of some of the best consultants in the business to improve your brand. They are not inexpensive though, so be prepared to spend some money if you go down this path.
Allow your customers to follow you on a variety of social networks. People are now accustomed to using social media sites every day, so giving them fast access via Twitter, Linkedin or Facebook is a great method to ensure they can access your information instantly when you post.
With Facebook, it is very easy to gain followers of your content and give them the opportunity to share it. When a user comments on any posts, it will show on their page and their followers will see it. Let your readers know that you’d like them to engage in communications, so that you get more exposure.
Facebook games can be a great way to attract attention. Creating a game around your product or service will be a fun way to introduce it to a large audience. There are several companies that were propelled up the ladder simply because of their Facebook-driven online games. If you have the funds to have a professional game designer work on a game for your business, then you can reap the rewards by sharing it on Facebook.
Remember that your results will not be instant. A great social media plan does not happen overnight. You have to work at increasing your popularity by having more people follow you on Facebook and Twitter. Once this happens, you will be able to launch some serious marketing campaigns. Let people know in each post that they can follow you on multiple networks.
If you are a Twitter user, it is important to take advantage of options such as automatically twitting your new blog posts, to keep your followers constantly updated. You may also choose a few bloggers that can post high-quality content and updates that include links to their written posts. They’ll be very grateful for your promotion of them, and your own subscribers are likely to get a kick out of the good content.
Let people use the social media profiles you have so they will visit your store or buy a product. Give them information about discounts you have to offer, or new locations. Allow them access to printable coupons or limited time offers, which are just for your followers. People must be convinced that subscribing to you on Facebook gives them something of interest.
You won’t have results overnight. Creating a social media plan that is successful is not an overnight process, as it does require time. You will need to keep working on getting more people to add you on Facebook or follow you on Twitter before you can think about launching any serious social media campaigns. Talk about your social media marketing campaign via your other marketing tools.
Social Media
Utilize social media to drive traffic to your brick-and-mortar locations. Publicize the specials you are currently running. Let them print your coupons and allow them access to your limited offers that are only reserved for your Facebook friends. People are much more likely to friend you on Facebook if they feel there is something in it for them.
If your company already has a blog, incorporate it into your social media marketing campaign by announcing your blog updates on your other sites. This will notify followers of your social media sites, and that they should check out the new content you have posted.
You need to respond to all comments that are posted on your businesses Facebook page. You should do this for negative comments as well. If people think that your company cares about what they say, they will be more inclined to trust your brand and products. Always respond to customers as quickly as you possibly can.
Notice when you are getting the most tweets or re-tweets on Twitter. Use that information to refine when you send messages. Regardless of how it fits into your own schedule, you want to send your tweets when the largest number of followers are likely to see them. An automated service can help you launch your messages in this ideal window.
Before any content is posted on the site of your business, it should be approved by you or another person with clear authority in the matter. If you make an embarrassing mistake, it can be halfway around the world before you know. Do your best to keep up with the latest technology while maintaining the positive reputation of your company.
Set-up a social media blog and brag about friends you have. It may feel awkward, but it will give people comfort to know that they are not your very first friend and that other people like you. Blog about your friends on Facebook, or your number of Twitter followers. Also, add links to any other sites you use.
Host an online Q-and-A about your products or services. Allowing visitors to pose questions and get answers can generate new interest and renew excitement. Customers can learn about your business, as well as the future directions of your company. It adds a touch of personality to your business, because it is an interactive experience.
From the tips above, you can tell that social media marketing isn’t nearly as complicated as it initially seems. Using what you’ve read here is a great first step towards growing your customer base and retaining the loyal fans you already have!
Blogs written by actual employees are a great way to provide content to your customers which is informative and entertaining. Your visitors will be able to get a glimpse of behind-the-scenes information they wouldn’t have access to otherwise. It gives them a window into your company climate, your business culture, and the different processes that go into producing and delivering your services and products. The more your customers know about how your business operates, the more trustworthy they will find it.
