Social Media Marketing has become one of the most influential and powerful ways of spreading word of mouth in today’s advertising world. With the ability to create a unique community around your company and allow online conversations with customers and clients, why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of Social Media Marketing?
Oftentimes people think if they have a Facebook and Twitter page then they are utilizing Social Media, however, there is many other social media platforms available that are crucial when expanding awareness in the online world. For instance, LinkedIn, Blogging, YouTube, Slideshare, and Flikr are available and should be considered apart of your social media campaign. By utilizing all of these sites, your SEO rankings will help boost in no time.
LinkedIn is a great site for keeping in touch with business professionals. By customizing your URL with your name (http://www.linkedin.com/in/michellelynn1) you will help increase your profile to rank for searches for your name. Just simply go to edit profile, then edit your public profile domain and type in your name and hit save! Another great feature with LinkedIn is adding links to the website section of your profile. LinkedIn allows you to insert up to three links on your profile and these links pass SEO authority. Additionally if you customize the anchor text on the links, you will get the most benefits since the search engines look at the text of links to understand more about what the content is of pages they link to. So, if you want your florist company on the first page for “great gifts to give on Valentines”, make sure to use that text in your link.
Blogging is another awesome tool for marketing your business. I like to think of blogging as referrals from either people you know or don’t know. People discover your business one of two ways. One is by searching online and two is by word of mouth or in this case referrals. Blogs provide valuable content because they give viewers a voice and the opportunity to spread that voice as much as they want. Writing articles on your blog allows you to give personality in your marketing without seeming like your really marketing. Think about what you’re reading right now…does it feel like I’m marketing to you? Blogging is a very social thing and when integrated into other social media tools, your content can help people spread the word effortlessly.
YouTube is an effective way of publishing engaging video content to the world. With 20 million viewers a month, YouTube provides unlimited potential in launching your marketing campaign. Once you produce a video, it is important to build awareness since there are millions of videos already on the site. Some ways of attracting viewers is by participating in the YouTube community, which is often times forgotten about. By getting your name around by either commenting on other videos or joining existing topic-related groups, people will start becoming aware of who you are in the online world. Another important point to remember is that you must always include your web address and contact information below your video. Producing a video on YouTube is pretty much pointless if you don’t end up directing viewers to your website. Also, don’t forget to choose your keywords carefully, there’s only one way viewers end up on your video and that is from search engines.
Slideshare is the world’s largest professional sharing community for presentations, documents, and professional videos. Recently Slideshare has launched a new Channels service that provides custom branded microsites within the community. With SlideShare Channels, users are able to market their brands effectively and reach targeted customers in order to generate leads! According to one happy Slideshare user, “We use SlideShare not only to facilitate the sharing of content with media and clients interested in our research, but we also rely on SlideShare for SEO and general online branding initiatives.”
Flickr is a web site owned by Yahoo! that offers photo sharing and a host of related services for users of any level. It’s incredibly easy to use, and quite fun when used with people you know! By using your Flikr profile to advertise your company, products, or services in an informational way people will want to hear more. Uploading professional, high-quality pictures is a great way to share information about your company with your viewers. Flikr is especially great for companies that sell products since pictures capture what exactly the product looks like.
Having a strong online reputation is oftentimes the deciding factor a person uses to decide on whether or not to do business with you. By using social media marketing effectively, you can easily keep people informed on your company with little to no cost. Whether it’s using a blog to show your company values their customers’ opinions, or using Twitter for fast responses, Social Media offers unlimited power for you and your business.
I never knew that!