Sunday, October 31, 2010

5 Great Tips for Social Media Marketing



I guess you started a busines blog, created a Twitter profile and build a Facebook page for your social media marketing strategies. Now what?

Sure, you can start posting updates and sendind message to your friends and follow request, however those communications are just the initia
l steps to social media marketing success.

In order to have an instant result from your social media marketing efforts here the 5 tips that will help your start seeing positive results.

Tip #1: Content is king.

In the social media world-it’s important that you actually have something to say that is interesting to share with.

All to often I hear people say "I need to tweet more" or "I don't use Facebook enough". Then, I challenge you to answer these three questions;

1. What do your targeted audience want?
2. What are you trying to accomplish?
3. Where do your targeted audience spend their time when it comes to social media?

I can't stress this enough, but it is not about social media sites, it is about content first.

You have to offer content with high educational value, differentiated, and preferably unique. Otherwise, people will find other sources for their information.

In the end you are competing for someone's attention. Generate interest with engaging and compelling messages and keep them with awesome content like:
- interesting tweets
- articles offering different perspectives
- insightful blogs
- engaging videos, etc

Tip #2: Be accessible and approachable in all of your social media marketing communications.

As much as possible, make it easy and non-threatening for your audience to participate. Not only it does your content on the social web but your personality matters, too. Don't taks at people, talk with them and do so in a manner that makes it clear that you them to join the conversation.

Make it easy and non-threatening for them to talk about your business on the social web by providing simple guidelines for them to follow.

Tip #3: Publish as much amazing, share-worthy content as possible.Not just to broaden your exposure,but also to add value to it.

That leads to far more online exposure for you, your business and your brand than you can get on your own.

Of course, not every piece of content that you publish on social sites has to be share-worthy, but you should try to publish as much amazing, share-worthy content as possible. Not just to broaden your exposure, but also to add value to the online conversation.

Tip #4: Acknowledge and recognize your audience.

The power of social media marketing comes from the relationships you develop with your online audience (who will become brand advocates and will talk about your business, champion it, and defend it against naysayers). With that in mind, you must acknowledge people when they reach out to you.

Would you ignore a person who walked up to you at a networking event and spoke to you? Hopefully, your answer to that question is, "no." No one likes to be ignored, and social media conversations shouldn't be treated differently from in-person conversations.

Many of the most successful marketers make a point of responding to every e-mail, blog comment, tweet and so on that is directed at them. So recognize your audience, and make them feel important.

Tip #5: Integrate all of your marketing efforts.

All of your marketing efforts should work together to present consistent brand messages and lead to your ultimate marketing goals. You should also cross-promote your various marketing efforts.

For example, feed your blog content to your Twitter and Facebook profiles using a tool like Twitterfeed. Promote your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles by including "Follow Me" buttons in your blog's sidebar that link to your profiles. Include your Twitter ID in your printed ads and link to your blog and social media profiles in your e-mail signature.

The key is to surround your audience with branded experiences and let them select how they want to interact with your business and brand. Give them options and make it easy for them to join the conversation in the way that they choose.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Elaine, your blog is very impressive,an eye opener for newbies in the field of Social Media Consultants

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