WHATS SOCIAL MEDIA GOT TO DO WITH IT?
If you think social media is for "the younger crowd", think again. Even the bigger conglomerates are using social media, while severing the long reaching tentacles of recession to stay in touch with their user-base. Gaining incredible user support they have adopted this method because it works. It proves that jumping on the "Tweet This" and "Follow That" bandwagon can be downright profitable to those who care to venture.
Promoting Your Web Site via Social Media
Many people are put off by the idea of social marketing because they immediately assume social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are only used by people in their twenties.The truth is, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the average age groups of those who use social media religiously are in the 35-49 age range. This is higher than any other online demographic. Social media is the number one marketing tool of the moment. If you're not utilizing social media as a part of your marketing strategy, you could be missing out on a substantial amount of potential revenue.
So, how can you use Social Media to promote your web site?
The first thing to do is sign up for a Twitter page and Facebook fan page. This will give you more than one way to stay in touch with your visitors once they leave your web site. This will also help increase your client retention. Although your online visitors may be impressed with the product or service being offered on your site, they may not be ready to buy yet. Social media marketing is a great way of keeping your current customers and potential customers up to speed on your latest promotions, especially when they Tweet and Follow a link to your content on Facebook, Twitter or which ever social media outlet you chose to give them via a link.
Create your social media biography. Your biography should summarize your mission statement and the product or service you are offering. You will want to give people the impression that you are an up-and-coming market leader. A couple of well-written paragraphs should be adequate.
Be an active social media member. Make sure you include a welcome message to your social media pages to help encourage other followers to network with you. Then introduce yourself to other members of the online community and invite other people to become friends.
Engage in useful conversation. Start off by offering helpful tips and suggestions. For example, share interesting articles, videos or web sites. This will help add value to your conversation. It also helps in building credibility in the social media world.
Drive more traffic to your web site. To drive traffic to your site, build inbound links to your social networking sites. Don't forget to review the social networking rules in advance before placing links. Some social networking sites will actually ban users who Spam. Promote your web site to people who may be interested in your business. You achieve this by developing a sub-group of users within the social media community who are like-minded and have the same interests as your business.
Give your users the tools they need to tweet, follow, plug, push, send, rip, mainline or do whatever they do to share your information with others. This is essential and easily accommodates by providing a few small icons that can be easily accessed through your site. The graphic "icons" come in all shapes and sizes to fit any web site decor. Take a look at the "Social Onslaught" area to the right. Programmed correctly, your users can and will share your worthwhile content with others!
Lastly, make sure you post advertising messages on a monthly basis to those who have expressed interest in finding out more information about your business. Promoting your web site with social media is an effective way of gaining popularity on the web.