Social media is the new (buzzword) that is used to describe
a variety of Web-based platforms, applications and technologies that enable
people to socially interact with one another via the Web or Web 2.0 as these
services are normally labeled.
Some examples of social media sites and applications include
Facebook, YouTube, Del.icio.us, Twitter, Digg, blogs and other sites that have
content largely contributed based on user participation — that is, sites that
organize and deliver user-generated content (UGC).
Many businesses have primarily focused on getting listed in
Google for no reason other than to drive Google's search traffic to their own
Web space. Social media is no different — businesses are looking to leverage
social media traffic to help their own sites and brands. In November traffic to
Blogger, according to comScore, was 222 million. It is easy to see why
businesses want to attract some of that traffic.
Not all businesses need a Facebook page or a blog to promote
and advertise on the popular social media sites. In fact, you might do better
simply by making your own online presence social media-friendly and let your
users carry your product through to these places instead.
Welcome Social Media
in Your Organization
If you think about it, social media is like an online
version of word-of-mouth advertising. One user on a social site may favorite,
follow, or Digg something about you, and suddenly your brand and name is now
being shown to all of their friends, and if they repost the mention, they open
your brand up to all of their friends, and so on down the line.
Businesses can start with a company presence or profile on
different, but appropriate, social media sites. You can create a Fanpage on
Facebook, get your employees on LinkedIn, sign up for Twitter, or start
submitting relevant articles and content to social bookmarking sites, like Digg
and StumbleUpon. You can also use free blogs like Blogger to open a dialogue
between your business and consumers.
When creating profiles on these sites, remember to link them
up. For example, on your Twitter profile you can include a link to your blog or
Web site. On Facebook you can install a Digg application so others can see what
you favorite, and a Facebook Twitter application lets your Tweets become your
Facebook status update. Twitter feeds can be added to your blog, and so on. By
linking up your profiles, with one update you can blast your message to
multiple social sites.
Be Open, Honest, and
a Little Social, Too
To successfully market in social media spaces, a business
needs to create honest and open profiles that will appeal to consumers — don't
pretend you are "just another user" on the site. Be honest in letting
users know that you represent a business, versus being a single person who
always tweets and links to one business. People will see right through this.
When you use these sites, you're opening your business up to
direct dialog and comments from users. One of the biggest mistakes a business
can make is not responding. When comments are left on your blog, a message is
posted to your Facebook Fanpage wall or someone tweets a reply to your status
on Twitter, make sure this person gets a message back from you. It doesn't have
to be a long-winded dialog, but show that you have an interest in what they are
saying. If you never respond, the user does not have a reason to come back to
your profile. Make sure you have staff
members who will continue to update these pages with fresh posts and comments
to users. Daily updates are best.
One thing to remember is that as a business engaged in
social media, you might get comments and posts that are not positive — comments
that you might feel hurt your business reputation. A business has to always be
courteous and address the concerns appropriately, no matter how rough the
comment you are dealing with is. Social media links can travel fast —- and a
single negative comment left by your staff on a public social profile will
infiltrate the faceosphere, blogosphere and diggosphere (you get the idea)
faster than you can imagine.
Merge Social Media with
Existing Advertising
If you're considering abandoning any of your current
advertising practices in favor of going with social media, think again.
Businesses need to look at incorporating current marketing channels with new
social media opportunities. For example, Google search engine rankings (SEO)
are on everyone's priority list. Blogging is an excellent way to optimize your
content for Google. You can design content that works well on your blog, but
don't stop there. Use portions of the content, not only on your Web site and
blog, but also for Twitter updates, Facebook Notes, in more traditional print
ads and also in your e-mail marketing campaigns or newsletters.
Social media also provides a way for you to promote new
launches and products. You can twitter company news and announcements (via
links), you can add product unique and fun demos in video format to YouTube, or
upload hot product shots to Flickr or your Facebook Fanpage. When an online
publication covers your business or products those news stories can also be
added to your various online social media profiles.
Optimize Your
Business for Social Media
It is important to realize that not every business really
needs a Facebook Fanpage or a Twitter profile. In some cases, it just might be
that right now your small business doesn't have time or resources to invest in
social media marketing. Still, a business can still leverage social media traffic without
joining each of these sites just by making sure you have the basics in place.
An RSS feed is crucial to success. With an RSS feed you can distribute your
content to other sites and users.
You can also make your Web pages social-friendly by offering
users recognizable badges they can click on to submit your Web page or blog
post to many of the popular social sites. Add this is one of several free
bookmarking and sharing button services that can help spread your pages across
multiple social media sites. You simply create a free account and customize the
button for use on a blog or Web site. From there you copy and paste the
provided code to your page.
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