A Beginner ’ s Guide to Social Marketing, PART 3

This five-part series provides an introduction to how the variety of social media and networking sites on the Internet can be used as a promotional tool for the modern business.

Social Marketing: A Brief Recap

In our previous two article posts on social marketing, we outlined some of the important goals of using social media as a means for brand promotion. We then began providing tips on how the modern business – big or small – can achieve these goals. In this article, the third installment of a five part series, we shall continue to provide important tips on using online social marketing to reap increased web traffic, customer interest and sales!

How to Use Online Social Marketing to Promote Your Business, Continued

3. See Contribution as an Opportunity

Use your social media accounts to regularly contribute to the wealth of online information. People spend hours and hours every day simply reading, watching videos, looking at pictures and listening to audio clips on the various things they find interesting. Creating and broadcasting quality content is as important to social marketing as becoming a member of the online community. It enables you to:

Provide links back to your personal website, driving greater traffic there Convince your audience that you are a leader in your industry Nurture trust between your brand and its target market

4. Connect with Your Competitors

In the realm of social marketing , your competitors are not to be seen as your enemies, but as your educators. Having said this, don’t ever just follow their online social marketing strategies, but keep an eye on what they are doing and determine whether you can make it work for your business. Also, with the right communication, your competitors and those that operate within your niche industry can become advocates for your brand! Use your social media to communicate with them and always be honest, polite and sincere. Don’t become aggressive or confrontational; online social marketing is not a game of football.

5. Blog, Blog, Blog!

Blogs, provided they are well-researched and well-written, are a fantastic way to achieve a number of your social marketing goals:

They promote your reputation as a leader within your industry They provide links to your business website They provide references to your competitor’s and associate’s websites, which is

great for reciprocal marketing, as well as for maintaining healthy relationships with your peers.

SEO key-wording and link-building also generate huge interest from local and global search engines (like Google, Yahoo and MSN), so get writing! If you’re too busy to create your own blogs, then hire an English student or a budding professional in your field to write informative and insightful articles for you.

6. Link-Building

Don’t be shy! Use your social media accounts to provide links to other websites, blogs and media that are relevant to your business. Search engines use link density as an important parameter when ranking search results, so the more you link, the better your website will rank when people search for a related key word or phrase.

Online Social Marketing: Stay Tuned

For more information on how social marketing can greatly increase your web traffic, lead conversion and sales, stay tuned for the fourth installment of this five-part series.