How to Build Deeper Relationships With Your Customers Online

In the 1990s, the internet was a bunch of banners and brochures. Now we have social networks, which allow for much richer two-way interactions. Instead of just signposts on the web, social media marketing plan template we have the opportunity to build outposts where people can be seen and heard. Here's my advice on how to use both tools effectively.Using tools such as Cision's Journalist Tweets and Muckrack can help you locate journalists, editors and producers, and to find out how active they are on Twitter. These tools can help you decide which media outlets you would like your business to be featured in and enable you to connect with the journalists who work there.With mobile messaging becoming one of the best ways to connect with your prospects, an option on Twitter will allow you to have your tweets directly sent as a text to your followers. You don't have to sign up. Whenever you post a tweet, if someone has subscribed to your tweets from his or her mobile device, they will automatically receive your tweets on that device.Choosing Twitter over a text marketing company can save you money and time. You can send a tweet that translates into a text directly from Twitter or from a social media dashboard such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck.If you are going to do this, make sure you create a separate Twitter account and only tweet a few times per week so that you don't overwhelm your followers. You might consider setting up a separate twitter account using your brand name followed by the word mobile or SMS (short message service) in your Twitter handle. An example might be: @starrSMS or @starrmobile.Increase traffic to new blog posts or other content you share on Twitter by tweeting them 10 to 20 times using slightly different headlines each time. social media marketing world Twitter is excellent for ongoing live traffic around the clock so posting more than once gives you a better chance to get more exposure. Changing headlines can attract different people and, if you post at different times, you can reach people in more time zones.Twitter is a tool than can help you discover what your target market is talking about and searching for.

Your main site is your home base

There are two things your website should do well: execute a solid call to action and give people a way to connect with you further. social media marketing tips Stop reading this article for a moment and bring up your own site. If you squint at it--or if I squint at it--will either of us know what you want me to do next? If not, fix it. That's your first opportunity to do business with me. No matter how complex your business, your site should give visitors a really clear and obvious action to take.Second, how easy have you made it for me to contact you? That's your second chance to get my business. Rethink your contact options.The purpose of a great home base is that people who talk with you on the various social networks will feel warm and comfortable about taking the next steps with you. Most people's websites are cluttered, making it unclear what users are supposed to do next. Yours will be different once you have the top two items in hand.And when used correctly, it can boost your connections and website traffic.In just six months, about 10,000 users have already registered with the service, which helps artists connect with fans who scan codes with smartphones to get access to contests, exclusive music videos, song downloads, Facebook and Twitter feeds--and soon, tickets, albums and other merchandise. The paid product ($99 or $499 a month) lets users earn revenue by publishing ads and displaying content on a navigation-friendly mobile site.We're reaching a social tipping point, where an average Joe will see a QR code on the street and know exactly what to do with it," says Galica, social media marketing tools his confidence boosted by a successful pilot campaign with Hannah Montana's Mitchel Musso; a great showing at SXSW in Austin, Texas; and talks with big media companies like National Geographic and NBC Universal about cross-promoting content on different platforms. Other items on Galica's to-do list: a second round of funding, hiring at least six more employees and pursuing an acquisition strategy to bring in a bigger user base.

Social networks are outposts

If you think of social networks as places where things other than your business happen, then you're starting to get how this all works. People aren't there to find you. They're there for their own purposes.marketing social media Your job is to have an outpost there and to listen, so that when someone expresses a need you can address, you'll have the ability to start a relationship. This is what I mean by talking signs. Your outpost shouldn't just contain a bunch of witty advertising. Your Facebook page should consist of more than well-crafted offers.The real win is in making relationships that stick. At the outposts, the goal is not to talk about yourself and your offers. It's about engaging with others, making relationships and being accessible, should the need arise.Arguably, the most exciting piece is what ShareSquare's real-time analytics platform means for outdoor advertising metrics. "If you can get enough people to start clicking in the real world, engaging with ads, you quickly start to see useful trends like where your customers really are, or what the hottest concert will be," Galica says. "That's just a taste."Emily White, Facebook's senior director of local, weighs in on why Facebook Pages--public profiles where brands share information on their products and services with the digital community--are finding a niche with small local businesses. The web is being rebuilt around people. People used to discover local businesses through word-of-mouth, but the context of Facebook allows for social discovery. When you go to your friends' profiles and see what they like, that kind of recommendation is so much more valuable. benefits of social media marketing Facebook Pages creates a community around your brand and lets you communicate directly with fans. It's a relationship-management tool.Facebook Ads allow businesses to find people before they're even searching for you. You can target users according to their location, demographic, likes and interests--we also offer advanced demographic targeting tools, like birthdays, education and line of work.