Social Media Marketing: Expert Advice, Successful Strategies And More
People interact differently than they used to, thanks to social media. Most of your customers are already using Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks. Social media is a great way to market a business, when used properly. The following article will provide some advice on the best use of social media in marketing.
Don't forget that social media is first and foremost a conversation. Receiving feedback from your customer is great, but it's up to you to respond back to them to open the door to discussion. Engage fully with the customers that contact you and build a mutually-rewarding dialogue with them. Take an interest in finding out their needs and wants, and use this information to develop your next promotion, or to think of innovative ways to improve your business.
To create social media marketing materials that get noticed, learn how to write attention grabbing headlines. It does not matter how good your products or pieces are unless the headline is good enough to draw in a reader. Facebook fans are skimming over many posts within their feed. How do yours stand out worthy of a closer look?
Create a RSS feed for your updates and give your readers the opportunity to subscribe to it. This will allow them to see your posts when they log into their Google account or right on their computer desktop if they use an RSS widget. Depending on your target audience, you will get more or less success with an RSS feed.
Whenever you post something on your blog or update your website, write a Facebook post right away. Perhaps you should plan ahead and write your post in advance so that you are not rushed to do it. Remember that people subscribed to your Facebook posts to be updated about what you are doing.
Use the questions and answer feature of LinkedIn. LinkedIn's Q&A works like a large discussion forum: look up questions related to your products or industry and write useful answers to them. You could also post a link to one of your articles if you do not have time to write something.
Respond to every comment that is posted to your Facebook page. This includes negative comments. You will grow trust by developing a real presence on your sites. Always respond to customers as quickly as you possibly can.
Make sure that while using social media, you stay as professional as possible. Sometimes things spread like wildfire in social media and mistakes you made can get around fast. Don't make the mistake of assuming that this will bring you more customers, as this type of attention can drive away potential customers.
Posting effective content on social media is key to growing your follower base, so consider interviewing experts and other influential people in your field and then posting the video to YouTube. Not only will you be providing great content, you will also establish yourself as an authority figure in your area of interest. You will appear more authentic to potential customers and be more likely to sell your services and products.
Proofread your Facebook status updates and Twitter tweets before you post them. You should make sure your work looks professional. Twitter requires shorter posts and certain abbreviations. This will help to ensure that your content remains high quality and professional.
Regarding retweets, acknowledge them when you do them and when they are done to you. What this means is if you like what someone tweeted, use "RT" and paste in their @name and the message. This gives them credit for the content. And, if someone retweets your content, thank them. These are simple courtesies.
When deciding how to implement your social media marketing strategies, it is important to take into consideration the nature of your products and services. For example, if purchasing your products is something that most of your customers would prefer to keep private, then do not put Facebook-like buttons right next to the buy buttons! Eventually, someone will click it accidentally and then get angry at your business.
One great way to get people to participate in your social media sites is to offer freebies, giveaways, and contests. Make participation in some form or another on the entry form. You can use this to get people to follow you, like your page, or write something in a comment thread.
When writing a social media blog for your business, remember to add Twitter. You can easily place a retweet button at the top of your blog. This will allow Twitter users to easily share your blog on their site. Think of all the potential that one button can have on your marketing efforts.
Tie your social media blog with LinkedIn for more marketing power. You open up a lot of possibilities quick when you add a LinkedIn button for sharing at the top of a blog. Your followers can use that button to encourage others they know to read your blog, as well. Since there are 100 million people on LinkedIn, you can achieve real success this way.
Link your social media blog to email. In some circles, this may be considered old hat, but there is still plenty of market to be tapped via email. You can simply add a 'subscribe via email' link to your page that will allow fans to get on your mailing list.
In conclusion, social media has changed human interaction. Websites like Twitter and Facebook allow people and companies to share content and communicate. Because of this, social networks can be amazingly strong tools in your marketing arsenal. Incorporate ideas from this article into your business plan!
