Are you confused and overwhelmed by social media? Face-what? Twit-who? You-how? In this post, I’m going to lay out a few of the best social media sites for small business owners, and why. social media marketing courses First off, when considering your online marketing strategy, your website MUST come first. Think of it as sort of a “base camp” that you will connect to/from any number of external points. Your website is property owned by you, whereas social media pages are owned by someone else. Look at social media sites as simply a vehicle to get your message out there and drive traffic back to what you have control over. Still, getting “social” is an important component to any marketing plan.Did you know… there are more than 100 thriving social media sites online right now and more popping up every single day. It’s enough to make a persons head spin! Launched in February 2004 for college students, Facebook has come a long way in a short seven years. Now with an estimated 800 million active users it is ranked as the most used social networking service in the world (by the number of active monthly users).Lucky for you, starting a business page - and tapping into the power of Facebook – is pretty easy. Once your page is created, users ‘like’ it (opt-in to get your posts) and your news will be posted to their ‘wall.’The Facebook interface makes it easy for your fans to ‘like’ or share your posts and when they do, their friends (the average user has 130 friends) will see this activity, therefore putting your brand in front of an audience you may not normally have access to. A micro-blogging social media site that has been around since 2004, Twitter has an estimated 300 million users world-wide. It has been described as SMS of the internet, because posts are short, sweet and to-the-point.
Twitter is a tidal wave of information. Posts come in at 140 characters or less and can be organized via hashtags . Topics range from totally practical (I often search Boulder) to the absolutely absurd (gympetpeeve). social media marketing b2b Twitter differs from Facebook in that users ‘follow’ each other. If someone follows you, you can follow them back. Therefore it is easier to gain a following, but the followers are not as targeted as they are on Facebook. I have found that Twitter is an awesome way to connect with people and/or other businesses participating in the same event. Following a hashtag at a concert, live performance or webinar creates a richer experience. As a business owner you can utilize this at events your company participates in – try it! – I’ll bet you’d be blown away by the response. YouTube is a video sharing social media site that is owned by Google. There are more than 48 hours of new video uploaded to the site every minute. Wow! As a small business owner, using video in your online marketing strategy – and the back-end key words of your YouTube video - is just as important as your other online strategies. YouTube recently announced YouTube for schools and I predict more ‘stations’ will be rolling out in the future. Will your specialty be included? Maybe! Google is a power house, this is no surprise. Originally launched as a search engine company in 1996, Google has continually added, updated and created new products that will appeal to it’s1 billion unique visitors per month.Google Plus was introduced in June 2011 for personal use and in November 2011 was opened to brands. Some of the features of Google+ include: Circles, Hangouts, Messenger, Instant Upload, Hashtags and more.
Twitter is the dominant democracy of the social-sharing economy. Relevancy, personality and brevity are the keys to making your voice heard. social media marketing job description Buffer lets you stockpile and schedule content in advance. Tools like this allow for posting around-the-clock, increasing the likelihood of snagging followers beyond your country or time zone without being working 24/7.It’s a guarantee by this point that a conversation relevant to your industry or business is occurring on Twitter. Instagram invites brands with visual content into their customers’ zone-out time. Create and post content accordingly.You’ll want to experiment with your own userbase and followers, but it’s likely that the best time to target your posts will be to get to your audience’s eyes during their commutes, nights, and weekends. While hashtags are clickable and useful for search purposes, links in comments and captions are not.Instead, use the integrated sharing functions for Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter to repurpose your Instagram posts for more shareable media. Include a relevant hashtag to become more discoverable on Instagram and to track engagement across sites where you share the content.Additionally, Followgram is a great tool for tracking your stats on the most liked and commented posts, along with top tags and locations.Keep a company description and profile page mindful of keyword SEO, but your network of employees and contacts is your most valuable (and potentially damaging) content on LinkedIn. Make sure people in your organization are appropriate, professional and on-brand. There’s nowhere online where employers and employees are more intimately linked.
Have you ever wished for a crystal ball so you could gaze deeply into the thoughts and needs of your customers? Sometimes B2B social media can feel like playing Go Fish with only half the deck. social media marketing salary You’ve only got a dolphin and all they ever want is a shark. Nobody wins… much less your business. Luckily we have some articles here that can help you cut through the miasma of uncertainty and build a successful B2B social plan without employing a psychic.Social media marketing is not about completely giving up all control of the brand, but changing methods to maintain influence in the new consumer-controlled social media reality. The social media audit tool helps marketers make sense of the many opportunities these platforms offer by allowing marketers to see their brands from the perspective of the consumer. People don’t always tell you what they’re thinking. In personal relationships, we use body language, tone of voice, micro expressions, actions, and other intangibles to infer someone’s perspective, attitude, intent, and desires. Business relationships rely on some of the same data points but are often distanced from targets and customers by geography, station (status in the food chain of the individual with final say-so) and decision-making protocols like RFP docs, requisition requests, and other confounding red tape. The separation between key stakeholders and those of us trying to escort them along the buyer journey presents some challenges. There are ways we can learn about our prospects and buyers to improve opportunities for consideration and conversion
Twitter is a tidal wave of information. Posts come in at 140 characters or less and can be organized via hashtags . Topics range from totally practical (I often search Boulder) to the absolutely absurd (gympetpeeve). social media marketing b2b Twitter differs from Facebook in that users ‘follow’ each other. If someone follows you, you can follow them back. Therefore it is easier to gain a following, but the followers are not as targeted as they are on Facebook. I have found that Twitter is an awesome way to connect with people and/or other businesses participating in the same event. Following a hashtag at a concert, live performance or webinar creates a richer experience. As a business owner you can utilize this at events your company participates in – try it! – I’ll bet you’d be blown away by the response. YouTube is a video sharing social media site that is owned by Google. There are more than 48 hours of new video uploaded to the site every minute. Wow! As a small business owner, using video in your online marketing strategy – and the back-end key words of your YouTube video - is just as important as your other online strategies. YouTube recently announced YouTube for schools and I predict more ‘stations’ will be rolling out in the future. Will your specialty be included? Maybe! Google is a power house, this is no surprise. Originally launched as a search engine company in 1996, Google has continually added, updated and created new products that will appeal to it’s1 billion unique visitors per month.Google Plus was introduced in June 2011 for personal use and in November 2011 was opened to brands. Some of the features of Google+ include: Circles, Hangouts, Messenger, Instant Upload, Hashtags and more.
Real social media marketing takes dedication
The term “Social Media” has entered that rare stratosphere of fame and recognition normally reserved for rock stars and Presidents. social media marketing for small business Now, rock stars and Presidents bow to the power of social media.But what does “social media marketing” truly mean, and how can we use it’s dominance on the world scene to grow our businesses? If you’re new to social media marketing you might believe that a few blog posts, daily, random status updates, and a healthy number of “followers” and “likes” are going to magically grow your business. The truth is: this stuff takes real planning and dedication. And what do you share, and hope that others will? Content.There is no such thing as effective social media marketing without content.Your social media strategy originates from your solid content marketing strategy. Great content gets people to share, and that sharing widens your audience to a whole new world of potential fans, friends, and customers.Whether you’re a large business or a lone entrepreneur, social media marketing can be the most inexpensive and powerful marketing tool in your arsenal to build the trust and authority that in the best case helps exponentially grow your business. It is commonly suggested that to increase your brand presence, you need to be active on all forms of social media. While that may be true, unless your company has a dedicated social media coordinator, finding the time to maintain every platform out there can be extremely time consuming.If your company is just starting out on the Web and need to pick a few social media networks to rule over, here is our guide to choosing the best platform(s) for your business, and how to make the most out of them.Twitter is the dominant democracy of the social-sharing economy. Relevancy, personality and brevity are the keys to making your voice heard. social media marketing job description Buffer lets you stockpile and schedule content in advance. Tools like this allow for posting around-the-clock, increasing the likelihood of snagging followers beyond your country or time zone without being working 24/7.It’s a guarantee by this point that a conversation relevant to your industry or business is occurring on Twitter. Instagram invites brands with visual content into their customers’ zone-out time. Create and post content accordingly.You’ll want to experiment with your own userbase and followers, but it’s likely that the best time to target your posts will be to get to your audience’s eyes during their commutes, nights, and weekends. While hashtags are clickable and useful for search purposes, links in comments and captions are not.Instead, use the integrated sharing functions for Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter to repurpose your Instagram posts for more shareable media. Include a relevant hashtag to become more discoverable on Instagram and to track engagement across sites where you share the content.Additionally, Followgram is a great tool for tracking your stats on the most liked and commented posts, along with top tags and locations.Keep a company description and profile page mindful of keyword SEO, but your network of employees and contacts is your most valuable (and potentially damaging) content on LinkedIn. Make sure people in your organization are appropriate, professional and on-brand. There’s nowhere online where employers and employees are more intimately linked.
Social Media Planning without a Mind Reader
Company seeking clients and individuals seeking employment should grow their LinkedIn networks by adding as many real connections as possible. marketing and social media Use your second and third-degree connections to request personal introductions (when reasonable), and weed out the Internet’s infinity of companies and applications, focusing on opportunities where you have some real connection. Consider advertising or paying to promote your page on Facebook, but don’t make your brand’s Facebook page itself look like an advertisement. Inspire conversations and shares – and be sure to ask questions.Of all social networks, Facebook is best equipped to linearly share responses to a post asking a question or sparking conversation. Answers then appear in friends of your respondents, spreading the conversation. Facebook offers personal connection and an enjoyable distraction amidst the work day, but use typically peaks outside of work hours. There’s no shortage of options for analyzing Facebook data. Track the success of your content by date and time to hone in on the best times for engaging your audience. As Google’s proposed alternative to Facebook, keywords and search engine optimization are central to the appeal of Google+. Link often to content on your own website to direct this search boost where you want it most. Useful tools: URL shortener Bitly does more than just shrink down links. Each time you convert a link, Bitly offers stats on clicks generated from that specific link, making it helpful to see how much traffic is brought directly from sharing to Facebook.Have you ever wished for a crystal ball so you could gaze deeply into the thoughts and needs of your customers? Sometimes B2B social media can feel like playing Go Fish with only half the deck. social media marketing salary You’ve only got a dolphin and all they ever want is a shark. Nobody wins… much less your business. Luckily we have some articles here that can help you cut through the miasma of uncertainty and build a successful B2B social plan without employing a psychic.Social media marketing is not about completely giving up all control of the brand, but changing methods to maintain influence in the new consumer-controlled social media reality. The social media audit tool helps marketers make sense of the many opportunities these platforms offer by allowing marketers to see their brands from the perspective of the consumer. People don’t always tell you what they’re thinking. In personal relationships, we use body language, tone of voice, micro expressions, actions, and other intangibles to infer someone’s perspective, attitude, intent, and desires. Business relationships rely on some of the same data points but are often distanced from targets and customers by geography, station (status in the food chain of the individual with final say-so) and decision-making protocols like RFP docs, requisition requests, and other confounding red tape. The separation between key stakeholders and those of us trying to escort them along the buyer journey presents some challenges. There are ways we can learn about our prospects and buyers to improve opportunities for consideration and conversion
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