The Big Three in Social Media Marketing Can Grow Your Business
By now you must have heard how social media has revolutionized the face of marketing. These days, selling your products across the Internet and even beyond the web can be done with just a few mouse clicks. Nonetheless, it can still be daunting if you don’t know where to start. So, let’s begin with social media. Nowadays, with practically the entire population with a credit card on the Internet, you can use social media to get your product or service known to a wider audience with some consistent effort. If you do it yourself it is very low cost. TV, radio and newspaper ads, while still utilized in some ways, are more costly and people dislike advertising. If you’re utilizing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, you’re a lot closer to building followers who can become prospects and eventually sales. As traditional media, newspapers, magazines and radio, continue to shrink, the social sites can become a big factor in the steady growth of leads and eventually sales.
Tips On Using The Big Three Media Sites
1. Facebook
With now close to a billion users, Facebook is one of the largest websites on the web today. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, at the time when he was still a student at Harvard. The site started out as a social site, but it has evolved into a dynamic marketing tool. To build your client base using Facebook, you need to use its features regularly. The site’s search feature allows you to look for potential clients within the network itself. Be consistent, and understand that you can’t hope for success if you confine yourself to logging in once aweek. You also need to update your profile, making sure it is current and includes your keywords. You never know who is going to stumble on your Facebook posts and decide to visit regularly. You want to keep followers (those who have liked your business page) engaged and coming back for more by adding compelling content on a regular basis: images, blog posts, video, case studies, press releases and so on.
2. Twitter
Birds are not the only ones tweeting, after all. Twitter, like Facebook, has millions of users. A micro-blogging site to some, an information network to others, Twitter can bring visitors to your site. Twitter is not as complicated as Facebook, but it is as effective in delivering your message to your followers. There are no hard rules to succeed in Twitter, either, but one thing you need to keep in mind always is never to abuse the site with foul language, misinformation, or “over-tweeting.” Best practices are populating the Twitter stream with retweets other tweets (140 charter posts) and quality content of your own such as:
- Blog posts you have written – tweet a compelling summary and link to your site
- Case studies – tweet an engaging “come on” so readers will click through to your site
- How to articles – leave them wanting more after 140 characters
- Video content
3. YouTube
Even if you haven’t uploaded a video on the Internet in your life, you will likely have viewed or passed on YouTube videos. YouTube, a Google property, allows you to post videos of just about anything. Pick subjects that relate to your business and they don’t have to be an expensive Hollywood production. YouTube has a big audience, easily making it one of the most visited sites. Two other rising stars are Google+ and Pinterest. For B2B (business to business), LinkedIn can be a top choice.
Which ones have you found the most productive for a small business?
Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to Doug Hay & Associates and a clickable link back to this page.
