Social Media Marketing 101: Tips For Getting Started
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Many entrepreneurs are aware of the extreme value of social media for promoting businesses in the 21st Century. Employing a solid social media strategy can expand your customer base to global levels. This increased exposure opens up a world of possibility for your business; all you need is an effective message!
Provide an easy to use opportunity to subscribe and follow your activity in a highly visible place on your profile. Many individuals use Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin on a regular basis, meaning that you can use these sites as a valuable way of promoting your business. Just provide easy access to your daily posts and your consumers will easily be able to stay up to date on your products and business.
Use your business’s name to set up accounts on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. This will help protect your business name from being used by someone else. It does not matter if you are not ready to start utilizing the account; this will secure your name, so that you can use it when you are ready to proceed.
Make your page attractive by filling it with great content. Consider writing “how-to” guides on subjects of interest, or providing engaging conversation about your chosen product. Readers also love easy to read product reviews that include detailed descriptions, and photographs of the product. If you have good content, it will be shared by those visitors who stop by your page.
Be careful if you decide you want to look into hiring a marketing company for social media. A number of these companies are scams that prey on business owners who have no experience with Internet marketing. The companies utilize thousands of fake twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts, which they create using proxy servers and automated registration bots. Because these services use abusive tactics, your message is generally not seen by too many real people, as the view counts are fake and the fraudulent accounts are generally terminated fairly quickly.
Proofread any content you’re going to post onto your Facebook profile or tweet on Twitter. You will need all of your content to appear professional. Twitter requires shorter posts and certain abbreviations. Your content should always appear professional.
Use a program such as Tweepi or Twellow to find the Twitter lists with the most followers. These programs can tell you who is running the lists you have identified. Then, request that the owners add your business to their lists.
To help get visitors that are targeted to your site, you should use Youtube in social media marketing. YouTube works great to attract new people to your website, because your posted videos have already provided them with a preview of what you have to offer. If your visitors already know something about your product line before browsing your website, they’re more likely to buy something.
If you don’t already have a Yahoo account, make one so you can go through Yahoo Answers. This portion of the Yahoo website is a service that allows people to submit questions, which other users then answer. Look up questions about issues related to your products, and write an answer mentioning your products. If you consistently provide helpful answers, then you can very quickly attain expert status.
Contests and giveaways are a proven strategy for pulling people to your product on Facebook. The prizes should be products you manufacture. This has the added benefit of getting more of your company’s products into people’s hands. It’s a great way for getting back to your consumer base, along with further marketing of yourself.
The strategies here offer you information on how you can market your business. Use the information presented and you can be successful in social media marketing. You’ll be amazed at what a difference social media marketing can make in your business’s success.