Social media marketing

Companies that engage in social media marketing use web sites like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and blogs. This type of marketing is typically done on web sites where people go to socialize versus shop. The goal of marketers is to build relationships with their customers to strengthen their option about the company. The other goal of social media marketing is to increase web site traffic through multiple inbound links. This article will discuss how you can get started with social media marketing:

Tip # 1 - Building Awareness

Social media marketing is unlike traditional forms of marketing. While you are trying to convince people to continue buying from your company, a great deal of social media marketing has to do with building company and brand awareness. You will use social media to let your customers know a little bit about your company and your products. Think of the social networking sites like the "about us" section on your web page. This is the time when you tell others about who you are as a company and how people can find you.

Tip # 2 - Gaining Followers

One of the main goals of social media sites is to build-up your "friends" or followers. Having more friends will increase your awareness and it can help to build your image with your customers. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to market to them for free with things like giveaways, sales, and other promotions. Having friends on social networking sites also helps to show other companies that you have "fans". You can gain followers by limiting your marketing efforts. Instead, learn how to talk to your customers instead of constantly trying to sell them something. It also helps to get active on the social networking sites and share your opinion.

Tip # 3 - Talk to your Customers

The reason why so many people prefer social networking sites to talk to businesses is because they have found that businesses have better customer service on these sites. Comcast is one company that has found success with social networking sites. They have a feed on Twitter that updates customers about problems like blackouts and they will answer questions on the site. Many of the customers receive faster responses from their Twitter page than they do with their phone-based customer support line. The conversations you have with your customers on social marketing sites should focus on serving the needs of the customers. You need to focus on finding ways to keep them happy and keep them continuing to come back to your company.

Tip # 4 - Feedback

One of the great benefits of social media sites is that they give you the perfect opportunity to gain customer feedback for free. You don't need to pay another company to conduct surveys for you; you can easily create your own using one of the apps on the social media sites. This gives you a great opportunity to find out what people really think about your company and your products. It can also help you determine how to market in the future and what type of audience purchases your products so you know how to reach them.

Use social media sites to promote big events like conferences. The great benefit to social media marketing is that almost all of the sites are free to join and they are very easy to use. In order to become successful at it, you do need to log into the sites daily to let your customers know you are active on the sites. This will increase your followers and it will help to improve the relationships you have with your customers.