Mar
2
HOW to do Social Media
Filed Under Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Website Marketing | Leave a Comment
This is the last part of a 4 part series on Social Media (links provided in case you have missed the first three): WHAT, WHY, PAYOFF.
We have talked about the fact that social media is conversation online. It is happening all over the internet and is discussions about content that is posted online or something that is happening offline as well. Content that is produced by businesses to engage conversation can take the form of video, audio, or written including inside blogs, forums, all types of social sites and membership sites.
We’ve also discussed why it’s important to be ‘in the conversation’. Businesses are increasing brand awareness, building significant followings, and producing more sales by integrating their company with social media marketing.
The ultimate goal of using social media for business is to get traffic to the website so that you can share more about your company’s product or service. There are many social media tools available to do this. The engagement you create with people in the social sites is what will help spread your message. When people you are connected to approve what you are saying, they will spread the word just like offline word-of -mouth advertising.
HOW do you join the conversation?
Social media facilitates the communication between people online. You will join the most popular social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and create a space there where you have the opportunity to build a large following. Posting valuable content in these spaces is what will attract others to you, in addition to brand awareness if you are an established business.
Posting content regularly is necessary because people are not going to come back to the same stale content on a page. Each time you post something, you will want to kick in your social media marketing plan for the content. The more you attract people to the content, the more targeted people you will build for ongoing communication opportunities.
Triggering conversation about your business is accomplished by searching for what is being said and responding to it. Answer questions, ask questions, give helpful information, provide valuable content. These are all ways to join the conversation.
What you want to target is an opportunity to provide a link back to your website each time you post something in a social site. That way, people can find out more about your business when they read something interesting that you wrote. This is another ongoing task: to search places online to engage with people and establish relationships.
People are always looking for new content, information about a product or service including features and reviews, help with something, answers to their questions, and discussion about experiences with products and services. They want direct access to the business, possibly even the CEO. The more you engage in the talk that is already happening online (about the market or industry itself and specific companies), the more you will integrate your business into social media and work toward conversion of engagement into sales.
When you give people the chance to associate themselves with you online, you are laying the groundwork for leveraging this communication for your benefit – at the same time, you are providing benefits to your following. Social Media is about sharing and relationship more than it is about selling. It is the model for the old saying that the more you give to others, the more that comes back to you.
The biggest takeaway today is threefold:
1) You must be active every day. Once you begin to participate in social media there will be conversation daily. You need to be responding to this communication and adding to it.
2) It is important to establish relationships, share valuable information, and not look for an immediate sale. People want to know that you care and are genuine about the business you represent.
3) Patience is required. Social media marketing is a process and most of the time it takes time and effort building a presence online before sales are realized.
To continue the conversation since the HOW is an ongoing adventure, we will be developing videos and written material for you to view and consider for your social media needs.
Come back often and discover new materials. Better yet, sign up for our RSS feed and you will be notified when we have something new for you.
Feb
24
WHY Social Media?
Filed Under Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing | 1 Comment
Yesterday we discussed ‘WHAT is Social Media’ (if you missed it, check out the post here) and scheduled the ‘WHY’ for today.
STRONG WHY:
Successful businesses who want to grow will keep up to date with marketing methods that will work for their industry. Social Media is the NEW way to advertise or market a business, and it will work with any market because so many people now have access to the internet. Let’s agree with the fact that, now, people go online to get information and to make buying decisions more than they go to the local newspaper or yellow page books. That’s a fact.
The other part of the story is that we are living in the age of information, where we are able to access more information than ever before, and connect with people at almost every level of a business than ever was possible in the past. People want to ask questions, have discussions, get feedback from trusted friends, and they are doing this on the internet. CEO’s of major companies are present in social channels online, and talking with customers, prospects, or whoever is asking them questions.
The next consideration is that even if you are not participating, your customers and prospects are. They’re already online, talking about the kinds of products or services that you represent, maybe they are talking about you, and probably they are talking about your competition. Chances are that your competition is there as well. And every day that you aren’t, you are losing potential business.
What are people doing online when they are researching products and services they are interested?
Watching video clips
Reading articles on blogs, websites, and news sites
Visiting business social pages
Viewing images
Listening to podcasts
Talking in forums
Being active in communities
Businesses in every market are using all of the above to connect with people, engage in conversation with them, attracting new and loyal customers from this transparent new way to market. On the internet, it is imperative to be genuine and reputable because if you are not, someone is going to tell the world about it.
When you start using Social Media for your business, the most important advice you can take is to CARE about your message and CARE about the people who will see and respond to it. That will lead to a very important WHY: you will build a group of customers who will not only be satisfied with the service or product you provide them, but will become ADVOCATES for you by spreading the word through this very viral community of the internet.
It may seem overwhelming until we get to the HOW do you actually ‘do’ Social Media. That’s coming in a future post (or available by clicking on the WWW (world wide web) picture on the top right of this page) – for now it is important that you understand the WHAT, WHY, and PAYOFF associated with social media marketing.
Tomorrow’s discussion: PAYOFF, or ROI, with Social Media.
Oct
4
What is Social Media?
Filed Under Social Networking | 18 Comments
What is Social Media or What is Social Marketing are questions that many home business owners or small business owners are asking. Whether you have a home business, based on the internet, or a local small business, you have to admit that advertising is changing. When someone is looking for what you have, do you want their search to result in finding you?
While yellow page ads in a physical phone book may have been effective in the past, it is not the way of the future. Many people access information online now, and as we move forward most people will do so. We look up locations and phone numbers online and may use the yellow pages website to do so. But we are looking for more information and even ways to interact online.
Business websites are growing by leaps and bounds. The purpose of a company’s website can be one of several. There are sites that are targeted for retail sales. Some brands like to focus on customer service, and still others host sites where they encourage customers, clients, or users to participate. These interactive sites can utilize the social media tools and services that are in abundance on the internet today.
At the very least, a business must have a website presence. From there, the task is to get traffic to that website. There are targeted ways to do that and include social media marketing.
The way a potential visitor will find a business website is to search for words that are associated with the product or service that the company represents. Taking the time to do some keyword research is valuable in terms of a website’s success in getting traffic that can convert to customer.
Once the keywords are determined they can be used in many ways to attract people to the business online. Keywords can be utilized in social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and across many smaller social sites, to find people with the same interests. Blog posts and articles that are written to provide information of value, or entertainment, can be written using the keywords. Social media sites can vote on or forward the content so that word spreads virally.
The power of social media to distribute content all over the internet, all over the world, is a powerful new way of attracting customers to your business. We have the ability to share our information in a way that is still new and is the way of the future.
The world of internet marketing is complex, and ever changing. In the four years that I have been marketing online, there have been tools, services, and practices that have come and gone in a relatively short time span. It can be hard to keep up with it when your main focus is operating your business, providing the service or delivering the product that sustains the business.
Home businesses and small businesses are hiring social media positions to manage their online presence. It is that important to have a website that is plugged in to the social potential of the internet. If you don’t want to hire an employee, you can partner with us for search engine optimization and social media, social marketing, and social networking for your website. The next time someone is searching for what your business can provide, will he or she find your website?
Jan
12
There are a number of high quality, effective lead generation programs online. The problem is it takes time to research them AND try them. I am fortunate to have found some successful products and services, and am quick to put aside those that don’t seem legitimate or reputable.
This week I am going to feature one in each post and you can also find links to them on the ‘Internet Marketing Resources’ page.
The very first lead generation (and internet marketing training) program that I was introduced to was four years ago when I brought my home-based business online, and is called Veretekk. I am still happy with Veretekk even though I use other services now as well. The online marketing training that I got with Veretekk (and still is offered at no cost today) took me from an absolute beginner online to gaining basic to advanced skills.
When you sign up for a no-obligation silver system, you get access to all recorded trainings inside (there are many) and also access to the training calendar where there are LIVE TRAININGS every day of the week. Everyone can start as brand new to internet marketing with Veretekk, and even experienced marketers appreciate and use the sophistocated tools and services they find in this program. Have a look for yourself:
Jun
16
Information overload have you in the situation of not making any money?
Filed Under Internet Marketing | Leave a Comment
It’s time to turn that around!
38 years ago a group of guys managed to get information that was not meant to be accessed. In the world of internet marketing there is abundance of information at the other end of the spectrum: it is widely available to all. I’ll share with you more about the story I led with, but first for my internet marketing thought of the day..
My main point here is that with internet marketing, there is almost too much info ‘out there’. Ok. There IS too much info, and it is ours for the taking. I can speak from experience when I say that too many of us get caught up in all of this information.
While the information is not meant to be inaccessible to us, it does many times take us down a path, away from what is important in building our home businesses.
Don’t get me wrong, there is lots and lots of very good information, training, and marketing systems. The problem is that when we spend too much of our time studying, or looking at yet another program, it takes away from the ‘taking ACTION’ part of our business. That is the part of the business that will produce results for us.
We now have great tools, online and offline, to (time) effectively market our home business. We have videos, written information, audio presentations, and more. It is easier than ever to invite people to evaluate something that can be helpful to them. Making a difference in someone’s life is an awesome experience!
Training is better than ever and presented by experienced, dynamic business owners that teach and train the new members we bring in so that they can get up and running quickly. And materials can be accesses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to accommodate anyone’s schedule.
We can still set aside some time each week to evaluate other marketing ideas. It’s a good thing to create some individual strategies. We just don’t want to make that a daily task that is taking up half of our day because it won’t produce results.
This is important because we are not just creating one-time sales here. We are creating monthly residual income. That is income that continues to come in month after month, and year after year.
In case you are still wondering about the lead-in story..
Back in 1972, a group of guys broke into a nice office complex in search of certain data that was not theirs to take.
They succeeded in their mission, managing to stay off of the security cameras and avoiding security. Their mistake was one of laziness. Since their work involved repeated trips in and out of the office (and they could get past the cameras and security each time) they wanted to save time getting past the locks on the door. They used duct tape to keep the door from locking between trips.
They were ‘discovered’ when a part-time watchman was checking doors and discovered the tape. You probably know the rest of the story about the Watergate building..
If you are ready to evaluate a home business, I welcome the opportunity to discuss.
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