Social Media Marketing Is Now More Important Than Ever
Social media not too long ago was once an iffy area to venture into for many businesses. Many companies asked themselves whether it was even worth the time and resources or was it really a viable option. Well that ship has sailed and it has become increasingly important to really push your way through the online social media space.
The marketing can be discerning with the time and effort necessary to build your reputation with many networks at once. My suggestion, take a deep breath and work on one network at a time.
How Does This All Tie In Together? And Where Do I Start?
Below is what I call a very basic social media marketing plan. We made this graphic to visually display the method of a basic marketing plan development. This plan is geared toward beginners and certainly can be more complex if your up to the challenge, but this will be a good starting point.
Your Marketing Plan Begins With Your Website. Without enough call-to-actions and ease of navigation your dead in the water. You can drive all the traffic to your website, but if you don’t have quality to convert your prospects, you are wasting your time and money. Your website is considered your online brochure or portfolio and if its not representing you correctly, you will need a website makeover.
The Next Step Is Your Blog. This will be your personality. This is where you will share your ideas, personal projects, insights about your industry, and to answer most commonly asked questions. A blog is a great compliment to search engine optimization, in fact it actually works so well we build most of our websites with a blog integrated into the theme. Fresh content is, and always will be ‘the king’ of the search engines. With creating your own blog it will be a lot easier for prospects to find you online.
Many people ask me, how often should I post? The most successful blogs post several times a week. Now that can be difficult without giving it a full time job, but at the very least you will need to post once every two weeks. Now whatever you decide upon, it is very important to keep it consistent. Remember, the more you post the more successful your blog will be.
The Next Step Is Incorporating YouTube In This Campaign. Use YouTube to create behind the scenes videos and maybe some demonstrations of your product or service. YouTube videos when tagged properly, can bring high volumes of traffic to your website very fast. Think of it this way, if a keyword your trying to rank for has 10,000 competitive websites or companies, cut that number down to 10% on YouTube. There just isn’t a lot of people getting into it because of the difficulty making videos. Remember a decent video taken on a phone can be worthy enough to be useful on YouTube.
Now With The Outside Networks – Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. If I were you, try starting with one first, and with Facebook being the best option, build from there. Use your Facebook account to build your friends, family, and associates. Once that’s done, you can build your company profile page. Try to give the cover art and logo a more personable touch from your website. Invite your connections to like your Facebook company page then start to occasionally share some takes of your latest works or projects with your business. Get your customer’s to like your business, maybe for an incentive or after a well done job. Get them to put their recommendations and personable words about their experience with you as well.
Next is LinkedIn. This is the standard social media for businesses alike. Connect with your clients and find new opportunities using its powerful research functions. For example, you can use the search box to find people who you want to know in specific companies. LinkedIn also has the power of its latest apps, where you can automatically feed your blog updates with no extra work.
Twitter is a Media Stream. That means its an excellent resource for the latest industry news. It can be used as a news feed, or as a way customers can provide testimonials of your company with a tweet. I find it amazing who you can connect with and develop relationships with at a high level. You can also easily drive traffic to your blog, YouTube, or website using Twitter.
Your goal is to engage people and develop a community using your best networking tools. Then you gradually drive followers, prospects, and referrals through your social media system.
Generally people in your community don’t want to be sold to, they already like you. You are generally best served educating the people in your community on how to refer you for best results.
Social media is a long-term relationship marketing plan. Developing good relationships doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time. The minimum time you should consider running your plan before making a full evaluation of its effectiveness is six months. However, my recommendation is a year. Need help getting your social accounts built? See our social media services a la carte click here.
How Many Customers Will Follow Brands From Social Media?
Our Social Media Marketing Team Is Ready… Are You?
In today’s market it’s not enough to simply rely on website ads and word of mouth to get your company’s name out to the masses. Choosing the right web design Firm or Social Media Firm is more important than ever! Make sure the internet marketing company you choose to work with practices what they preach i.e ranks well for keywords & has a big social media following. There are far too many fly by night SEO Firms or Social Media Firms, new to the industry with little experience or understanding. We have a proven track record, an amazing client list, and a huge following. Let us develop you a rock star Internet Marketing Plan that will boost your traffic and build your brand.
Social Media Marketing - The Future Of SEO
One of the first things small business owners find out about when researching SEO are blogs. One of the most common questions we get is, “should I add a blog to my site?” Blogs have gained a reputation as having the potential to boost your SEO rankings, but it’s important to understand what a blog does and why it helps, as well as when it wouldn’t help. We can assist in the installation of a blog styled to your current website. Find out more at 
Innovation is important, but using proven formulas is smart and effective. Don’t be afraid to borrow from what you’ve seen work elsewhere. Try to figure out how other sites are bringing in visitors and try their techniques. Don’t copy directly, just tweak things to suit your own needs and audience.
Did you know that launching a new product or service can actually help grow your audience? It’s true. Launching a product also always leads to tons of interview requests, links from other blogs, partnership inquiries, and a different kind of respect from colleagues. Plus, because your new product will generate revenue, this should be top on your list.