The Case and Problem
Here is a statistic just to start out the case for using social media to benefit your business online:
It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. Terrestrial TV took 13 years to reach 50 million users. The internet took four years to reach 50 million people... In less than nine months, Facebook added 100 million users.
With this information how can anyone say it is not of value to utilize social media? The problem that most run into is how to use it effectively.
The most common thing I see from businesses on social media sites is advertisements. Although the main goal of utilizing social media sites is to increase your business, that doesn't mean advertising is the answer.
It is time to realize that the internet is not like traditional media marketing. You can just create a 30 second ad spot and post it and expect it to give you a return. You can not just create a little magazine ad then post it to the web and expect people to call you to buy something. The internet requires participation.
The name itself should be enough to make this known, but sites like Twitter.com and Facebook still go widely misused by businesses.
The Solution to Effective Social Media Use
What to post:
All social media sites are designed around user contribution. This means you have to post something. That something needs to be more than an advertisement. It needs to be personal. Something that suggests other followers and users should respond to you.
The best things to do is post questions or offer deals that require the users to do something fun or original and exciting to receive those deals.
After you post:
This is the most important part. After you post and in between posts responding to people is key. This is where the 'social' part comes into play. You have to respond to people. No one likes seeing a post, responding to it and then never hearing anything back from the person they responded to. It comes across as that you are too busy for them and that you don't really value their business.
People want to connect to other people online. Without communication back and forth there is no connection.
The Wrap Up
If you take nothing else away from this post please at least take what I'm about to say and try to at least make this work within your business.
Go sign up for social media sites (try for starters Facebook.com and Twitter.com). Try to spend at least 30 minutes every other day at minimum on social sites responding to people and making your own posts. Make sure you have links to your web site within your profile and just see if you can't connect with someone new that may be a potential customer for your business.
If you are interested in learning more about social media optimization (SMO) post comments below with your questions or contact us here.
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