The Best Ways to Market Your Business with Social Media

Before you begin marketing via social media, come up with a plan. This plan can include ideas on which social media platforms to use, how you will use them, and what type of content you will provide to drive traffic to your website.

The key is to provide valuable content to which your customers can relate. Social media is great because it gives you a direct link to your customers, but you must fill this space with items that your customers want to read.

Creating great content goes hand in hand with branding. You will want your content to portray your company in a certain light, which, in turn, becomes your brand image. If you run one of the top rehab centers in your area, it makes sense to brand your company as a helping hand for the community than it does to focus on the problems of the people at the facility.

Many businesses now run promotions through social media that are aimed at gaining new followers. If you provide discounts or contests to those who follow you through social media, it gives you the chance to advertise to these individuals.

Once someone follows your company on a social media site, it gives you nearly unlimited access to that person. While you do not want to exploit this access by posting too often, providing your followers with early access to information or special discounts is a great way to grow your following quickly.

Currently, search engines love social media sites and frequently place them at the top of the search engine rankings. If someone searches for your company, there is a good chance that your social media profiles are going to come up right away.

You can then use your social media sites to promote your blog, which will help it to gain more readers. Many of these readers will visit your website after reading your blog, so you can turn these people into paying customers.

Make sure that your blogs include interesting content to gain repeat readers. Always keep these ideas fresh and focus on providing content that your customers would want to read. Do not turn your blog into a sales letter, but rather make it a great source of information.

Websites like Yelp and Trip Advisor allow previous customers to write reviews based on their experience with your business. As a result, it is a good idea to read these sites to see how your company is being portrayed online.

Trip Advisor allows you to write a response to the commenter. This gives you a chance to explain the situation if a negative review arises.

Most customers now read numerous reviews before committing to a particular company, so it is a good idea to see what is being written about your company and to address any issues from customers that have been posted.

Twitter

Marketing through Twitter is great because you can get straight to the point, as you have a 140-character limit. You can also provide a link to your website for more information to increase your website traffic.

You should use Twitter for more than updating your followers on company-related news, as some of the most popular Twitter feeds feature jokes or fun observations. Many Twitter users make the mistake of only posting news and deals, but this could cause readers to ignore the posts. Twitterers often follow so many people that they end up skipping over many of the items on their feed, unless you do something to catch their eye.

This is your chance to have some fun with your customers by interacting in an informal manner. You can also answer questions through this platform and customers will enjoy having this direct avenue with which to connect.

Facebook

Advertising on Facebook is also very informal. Once a user likes your fan page, posts that you make will show up on that individual's timeline. Make sure that you do not use this feature too often, however, as people are on Facebook to connect with their friends and not to receive constant advertising.

Facebook is similar to Twitter in that you can converse with customers and answer questions in a timely manner. You can also see what others are saying about your business, which gives you the chance to make the necessary adjustments.

Google+

A relatively new social media outlet is Google+. This service is similar to Facebook, as it allows you to create groups and converse with a select group of people.

You can use these smaller groups to promote your services or products, while providing those in the group with special offers.

A great feature that small businesses can use on Google+ is video conferencing using Hangout. Through this service, you can integrate video into your offerings, giving you an entirely new way to communicate with your customers.

LinkedIn

Although it is not always used in traditional marketing, LinkedIn can work very well in B2B advertising. This platform allows you to converse with people within your industry, which can lead to productive professional partnerships.