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Social media marketing is the process of promoting your organization through interactive media channels, and it is a powerful strategy that will direct massive amounts of Web traffic to your organization.
Some businesses may be reluctant to jump on the social media bandwagon, but those that choose to ignore it may just get left behind. According to a 2009 independent research conducted by Growth Strategies, 70% of adults use social media, 75% visit online blogs and 47% use these sites to influence purchasing decisions. With a market this large, it would be difficult to justify not using social media sites.
Social media marketing is the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels, and it is a powerful strategy that will get your organization massive amounts of traffic. No other low-cost promotional method will generate the same amount of exposure.
Some top benefits cited by businesses for using social media sites include customer engagement, direct customer communications, speed of feedback, and learning customer preferences, among others.
While the social media giant may initially seem overwhelming and time-consuming, the effort will pay off. You may even discover that this new form of connecting and engaging in two-way conversations with your audience is fun and rewarding. By using social media outlets, you can directly and easily establish your organization as visible, professional, and approachable, and that is definitely worth the effort.
See more great ways that your organization can benefit by using social media sites by clicking on the links below.
Five Ways Organizations Can Benefit From Using Social Media(.pdf)
Professional and social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are effective outlets for reaching out to new and existing audiences, but it is easy to find your message diluted if you don’t have a social media strategy. Rather than scattering your organization’s name across as many networking sites as possible, it is important to choose the ones that most meet your organization’s needs. As with any marketing, one of the key elements to success is content—targeted and consistent. The best part is it’s all free!
The social networking site Facebook is used by more than 150 million people to share information online, so it is no surprise that registering for a Facebook account has now become a standard practice for business promotion. Creating a free Facebook Page is just one of the ways to showcase your organization’s best features. As fans view and interact with your Page, their activity will appear in the News Feed in a sort of word-of-mouth promotion, spreading to an even wider circle of friends.
Is your organization announcing a noteworthy event? Did significant industry news just break? No more waiting to hear it on the news. Twitter is one of the latest social networking tools used to send messages through cell phones, instant messenger, or the Web. You can communicate with friends and networks online with 140-character “tweets” in a matter of seconds.
Setting up an account really is as easy as 1-2-3. See the three easy steps to get started on Twitter.
LinkedIn is a professional networking site with more than 65 million members in more than 200 countries. Since relationship building is often the key to business success, LinkedIn can be a valuable tool in communicating and networking with a wide range of groups and individuals quickly and easily.
Unlike other networking sites that allow you to create a profile for your business without a personal account, LinkedIn requires a registered personal account in order to create a group or company page. Registering is free and easy. Go to the LinkedIn homepage, type in your information on the right hand side, and click “Join Now.” You will then follow a series of step-by-step instructions to complete your registration. A polished personal profile is important because your name will be linked as the creator and manager of your organization’s LinkedIn page. Once your personal profile is proofread for errors and is at least 75% complete, you are ready to establish your place of business as a LinkedIn group.
YouTube is a popular site with a wide database of videos at the viewers’ fingertips. You can upload and share your organization’s videos or view countless others’ videos. Membership is free, but registration is required. Fortunately, it is easy to create an account and begin sharing videos about your organization.
You no longer have to be a big time journalist or a graphic designer to get your message out on the Web. All you need is a computer with Internet access, and you can broadcast your own version of the news or any number of topics across the World Wide Web.
A blog is short for “Web log” and is a frequently updated publication of comments and thoughts on the Web. A blog usually reflects the views of the blog’s creator and can consist of text and images that are sorted by date. Readers can also leave comments and start a discussion on the topics. Best of all, blogs are free and take only a few minutes to get started.
The main difference between a blog and a Website is the way the content is presented. A Website usually has its pages displayed by categories, whereas a blog generally is categorized by published dates. Blogs also requires a database and server-side script.
A new marketing task that has arisen as a result of social media strategies is now known as “presence management,” which includes all of the tasks done to keep a social media site updated and active. With so many new social media options, it may seem difficult to keep up with them. The trick is to create and maintain a social media presence in as little time as possible while still providing your audience with worthwhile and up-to-date information. By setting aside about 15 minutes each day, you can incorporate some of the following tips for the top networks into your daily routine and effectively manage your social media sites.
Tips on Maintaining your Facebook Account(.pdf)
You’ve created a Facebook page, regularly update your LinkedIn networks, Tweet daily, and contribute to your organization’s blog, so now what do you do? Promote them! You wouldn’t host an event and not tell anyone about it, so why would you spend the time to create a space on a social media site and not advertise it? Without properly marketing your site, your social media connections will get lost in the shuffle.
Here are some tips on how to market your site and get people to notice you.
The term “Web 2.0” describes Web applications that allow for interactive information sharing and collaborating. It is the name for an emerging set of Internet-based tools and the ideas for how to use them. In contrast to Websites, which limits users to passively viewing information that is provided to them (“Web 1.0”), Web 2.0 sites allow the users to interact with one another and to contribute to the Web content.
This philosophy focuses on the idea that people should be more involved in the knowledge sharing process rather than just simply absorbing what is fed to them by corporations or media. Web 2.0 allows users to customize the information they receive to fit their needs and interests and to further share it with others.
Some examples of Web 2.0 technologies include blogs, social networking sites, video sharing sites, RSS feeds, and many more. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works in a standardized format. These new technologies are attracting many organizations and will most likely soon become the standard for organizations’ Websites. This new era of technology has so far allowed organizations to function more efficiently and generate more interest and profit through online participation than ever before.