Benefits of Social Media & How to do it

Ignoring Social Media is simply not an option. Millions of businesses are using social networking sites to their advantage, building awareness & trust in their brands, and engaging with potential leads and customers. Facebook's population alone would be the third largest country in the world. That’s a LOT of users that you can gain access to, by promoting yourself there. If you then consider all the other Social Media platforms available, such as Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, this is a huge opportunity not to miss out on.

5 ways you can benefit by Social Media use:

• Share expertise and ideas, users are intrigued and want to know more about your company, products, and services. Engage with fans and get involved.
• Interact with existing and potential customers. People enjoy the human element – and Social Media makes it possible for you to interact, communicate and engage. Because Social Media lets you respond to comments, it means that you can actively engage with them and build relationships.
• Build trust with potential customers & increase the loyalty of existing customers through communication and dialogue goes.
• Engaging in Social Media leads will increased traffic to your website.
• Increase search engine rankings. Search engines use Social Media signals so the more active you are on Social Media and the more you interact, the higher you can expect your ranking to be.

10 ways to achieve it:

• Promote your campaign on platforms where your existing brand advocates are already active and have a community of friends and followers
• Promote your campaign internally among your employees and customers. Ask your employees, customers, and friends to share information about your campaign within their own networks.
• Use online referral codes or other identifiers in your promotions to identify where visits and sales are coming from and how customers discover your brand.
• Utilise tracking tools that can identify which social networks and which marketing techniques are driving the most referrals.
• Brand your Social Media site. Visuals carry such a large emphasis on Social Media, so put your best foot forward. Always use Cover Photos for each of your social profiles and a professional Profile headshot (if you’re a person) or a logo (if you’re a company).
• Don't confuse people by having different profile pictures, images and messages on your Social Media platforms to what you have on your website. Your Social Media should be an extension of your website. People will recognize you and your business & will grow accustomed to seeing the same logo, profile picture, tagline, and message across networks which builds comfort and trust.
• If you’re just starting out and trying to grow your influence on Social Media, advertising on social networks can help build an audience if there is none.
• Listen to the people you’re talking with online. What are their needs, their problems and their favourite things?
• On your website or blog boost your Social Media marketing by making it easy for others to share your content with 'share' or 'like' buttons.
• Don't just concentrate on your brand. Share links about circumstances & applications where your product or service can be used, these can be from news media, or what other users have shared. Share blog articles that promote uses for your product or service. Don't just rely on the brand/product/service to sell itself, introduce or reacquaint people with uses for them & engage with them on it.

3 easy ways to do this:

• Once you have established yourself on Social Media platforms you will then learn how to automate posts. This will provide you with more time on the content and other strategies, and less time working on your Social Media network. Schedule posts in advance by using a tool like Buffer & Hootsuite (who also have a good deal of analytics already built in), and share to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest all at the same time.
• Engage a Social Media Strategist who can develop a plan of action for your campaign and help you achieve your success, by directing how you participate in Social Media channels and keep a close eye on the evolving social landscape.
• Outsourcing your Social Media may be the solution you are looking for. Managing all Social Media platforms on a day-to-day basis. Analysing Social Media metrics data to monitor performance of all platforms.

Social Media marketing campaigns can be 60% more effective than traditional advertising, so it stands to reason that within today's marketplace, social media is an integral component for any growing business.