For years now, small business marketing on the web was all about getting a high ranking on Google. But as always with the net, times are changing. The new measure of web marketing success is counted in how many back links you can get on Facebook. Many polls show that more websites are being discovered via Facebook than any other means. This is remarkable news, as this is the first time that anyone has ever come close to competing with Google in this way. And it’s even more amazing since we aren’t even talking about a search engine.
Of course along with regime change many other things are changing as well. Being successful on social media sites like Twitter or Facebook is far different than being successful on a search engine. The rules are all changing. If you don’t build good relationships, the social media sites will be of no use, whether you’re using the sites for small business marketing or for personal reasons.
Here are some helpful tips for building relationships through social media sites.
The Art of Engagement
Just having a large number of friends or fans on a social media network is not enough. You want to keep these people engaged and interested. The best way to do this is by posting regularly and interacting with your followers. This is indispensable for your reputation on social media networks. After all, the whole point is socializing.
How does this affect your small business marketing? Studies have shown that over half of all social site members claim that they would be more likely to purchase products from a company that they engaged with online. So though it might take a little more time to interact with your fans, there is definitely a benefit to it. The key to being a social butterfly is engagement. Fans are usually ultra impressed by a company that interacts with them through social media.
Make Your Page Interesting
You want your social media pages to be interesting and not all marketing. Offer fun information, post funny pictures, and even consider partaking in contests. The more interesting your page is the more fans you are going to get. Just putting up a page with no information and no flair is not going to win you very many points in the social media world. You want to keep your site up to date and interesting. Post regularly and stay fun.
Remember what it took to be popular in high school? A sense of humor, a presence, always having something interesting going on. These are all qualities that are present in social media masters. You need to become the social master of your small business marketing program.
Promote Your Page
If you have a company website make sure to download your social media site widgets. This allows members of various social sites like Facebook and Twitter to “like” or “fan” your social page directly from your website. Each time this happens you are getting a back link from their profile page. If five of their friends see their post and are interested in what you have to offer, they will likely share it on their profile page also. You now have five more links, and it goes on and on like that all day. This is what has caused the dramatic increase in site visits that are directed from social sites as opposed to search engine sites.
Social media is an exciting new form of website promotion and a great small business marketing tactic. Using these sites as part of your small business marketing plan can dramatically increase the traffic to your website. Of course if you aren’t using the sites to their full potential, the change won’t be so great. So follow these few easy tips for incorporating social media into your own marketing program.