Wednesday 2 December 2015

Essential Social Media Tips for Beginners

Plunging into social media for the first time can be a bit daunting for individuals or businesses. There is a learning curve when it comes to becoming more social online, and it can take a while to learn what works and what doesn’t. social media marketing companies Here are a few of the best Do’s and Don’ts that can save you time and help grow your social media authority more quickly. You’ll want to start small and try a couple services out at a time. Oftentimes newbies sign up for every social network under the sun and try to grow each of them. Guess how long they last? Building profiles for multiple social sites is hard work, so it’s best to start by only tackling a couple at first.Once you find the right ones for you or your brand, then start to narrow your focus on those. Eventually you may want to scale your social media strategy to include more services, but you have to crawl before you can walk.Start small, and then grow to other social networks as your confidence grows. Success breeds success. Put a widget up on your site for your social networks. The best place to find followers is your own blog or site. Also, it’s much easier to get your readers and friends to vote or retweet your content than strangers. Adding a widget next to your content can help.Facebook has a widget generator you can use, and the Tweetmeme badge is easy to add to your site as well.
Welcome to The Beginner's Guide to Social Media! Whether you're new to social media or just looking to close a few knowledge gaps, social media marketing services we're glad you stopped by. By now, we've all heard how valuable—even essential—social media can be. Whether your current sentiment leans more toward enthusiasm or trepidation, there's no way around the fact that social media is a far more complex field than it first seems. Diving in without a sense for what it's like can be overwhelming, and building a network that provides real value takes both savvy and hard work, but fear not—we're here to help! We hope you'll find this to be one of the most comprehensive social media resources available, and that no matter what your skill level is, there's plenty in here to help you improve your social presence. Social media is a way for people to communicate and interact online. While it has been around since the dawn of the World Wide Web, in the last 10 years or so we've seen a surge in both the number and popularity of social media sites. It's called social media because users engage with (and around) it in a social context, which can include conversations, commentary, and other user-generated annotations and engagement interactions. Publishing content has become exponentially simpler over the last several years, which has helped skyrocket the use of social media.

Frequently test your buttons and widgets

Start testing which social media profiles have the most impact, social media marketing university then drop the rest. For example, if your site does really well with Facebook shares but hardly ever gets voted on Digg, then drop the Digg vote button.Oftentimes you’ll see sites littered with tons of widgets and buttons. Having a gazillion widgets at the end of each article only creates noise and annoys the reader. Figure out which buttons are getting clicked, and drop the buttons that don’t convert. Ideally you’ll only have two or three widgets on each page. You can tell which buttons are effective by using Google Analytics and goals to see who’s clicking what. You can also use A/B to see which types of buttons are getting more clicks. Sounds like common sense, right? Unfortunately, lots of companies that are just starting out with social media think the best way to “promote” their brand is to publish coupons, offers, news, and anything else related to their business.Rule of thumb: if it’s something you personally wouldn’t like to receive, avoid it.Your social media goal is to be helpful first. People follow and respect brands that are helpful, not self-promoting shills. Give first, then ask.Try posting useful links to industry articles, answer questions, and engage. The followers, engagement, and ultimately sales will come if you’re helpful first.
Non-technical web users are now able to easily create content on a rapidly growing number of platforms, what is social media marketing including those that are owned (hosted communities, blogs, etc.), rented (social networks or third-party communities), and occupied (commenting, contributing, etc.). Today's web has shifted from a "one-to-many" to a "many-to-many" method of engagement, and we're loving it. For businesses, the shift in web consumerism and accompanying rise in social media brings both opportunity and responsibility. The sheer amount of data that customers make available through social media alone has web marketers jumping for joy. The real magic, however, lies in the opportunity to grow lasting and scalable relationships with your organization's customer base through social media. This is also where your online responsibility to your customers begins to take shape. Just as your customers' behavior has shifted, so have their expectations for yours. Whether your business is listening and engaging or not, customers are having conversations relevant to your operations.Over the last several years, there has been an explosion of growth in popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and many others. It's safe to say that the era of social media is just getting started, and the need for social media in business will only become stronger over time.

Don’t fret about follower counts

Don’t believe all the spammy ebooks out there that sell you the notion that you can attract thousands of followers in a matter of days. social media marketing jobs Sure, you could do that and it’s not hard. But the types of followers who are going to be following you are mostly bots. Or they’re just following you in hopes that you’ll follow them back. Ultimately, they aren’t followers who would engage with you.You want social media followers that are going to listen and interact with you, and 10 of those followers is worth more than a thousand bots. It takes a while to organically build up a great social profile. Focus on building great content and being helpful, and the followers will come. Everyone has a different strategy when it comes to social media, and sometimes it’s best to take a look at people who are real social media experts. Lee Odden is a good example of someone using Twitter and Facebook to help people, which in turn grows his social media influence.There are plenty of fantastic examples of people who truly understand how to interact and build powerful social media profiles the right way. Check out sites like WeFollow to find influential Twitter users within your niche. Try a time-tracking tool like RescueTime to improve your daily productivity and devote more time to the areas that need it most. In fact, LinkedIn Publisher can greatly expand the reach of your business on LinkedIn, regardless of your network’s size.
How much time do you spend crafting blog posts? Sending emails? Sitting in meetings?Even if you have a good idea of where you’re spending the bulk of your time, social media marketing company you may often feel there simply aren’t enough hours in your day. Getting a handle on time management is a huge challenge for business owners. For example, let’s say you spend a great deal of time interacting on Facebook and Twitter, but you’re not seeing a lot of results. Meanwhile, your email marketing campaigns are intermittent at best, although you know the results are there for the taking.Adjust your daily schedule so you spend more time on email marketing and see if it drives more sales. Remember, digital marketing depends on the trifecta of social, blog and email. If you neglect any one of them, your entire strategy could suffer. However, give them each a little love, and you might just see explosive growth. It’s all about finding a balance that works for you and your business. For example, after Wendy McClelland added her third post, Why I Say NO to Coffee Meetings, she received more views, likes and comments than she ever could have expected. If you haven’t already done so, take advantage of the free content publishing feature on LinkedIn called Publisher. It can increase your exposure to your target audience and help build your credibility as an expert in your industry.

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