Social Media Marketing: The Top Four Reasons You Should Try It
May 28, 2008
So, you want to get your name out there, to be known, to market yourself to every possible venue. By delving deep into the social media marketing realm, you can produce significant results.
Just what, you might ask, is social media marketing, and how does it work? For starters, social media marketing is a way to embrace many of the web’s social facets and use them to promote your business or website. For example, you can blog, post viral articles, and reach out through social networking sites all in the name of increasing traffic to your website. If it’s done right, it can be extremely effective.
The question remains: Why is social media marketing important? In addition to just drawing traffic to your website, there are a number of reasons (not to mention benefits) behind this marketing strategy. Below, and in no particular order, you will find the top four reasons why you should adopt a social media marketing campaign.
1. Connect with your customer base. Say you begin a blog that relates to your website. Eventually, that blog will begin to attract a readership base, and your customers will be able to respond to these blogs. Or “hang out” with your client base on social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn where you can personally interact with your customers – even on a one-on-one basis – and learn all about their needs and wants as it pertains to your company. Also, you can search review sites and forums to see what your customers are saying. Whether the feedback is positive or negative, you will have a solid grasp of their reactions to your products and services … which leads me to my next point.
2. Manage customer relations. When you are sifting through your customers’ reviews, forums, and blog responses, it can be exhilarating to read affirmative feedback on your services. On the flipside, it can be downright disheartening to read the negative stuff. But don’t fret. This kind of criticism can give you a chance to respond gracefully and show the consumer that you care about what they think. You may not be able to right all of the wrongs all of the time, but you can acknowledge each one personally. This way, your customer base knows that you care and are taking measures to create better results in the future.
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3. Establish yourself as an industry expert. Publish articles and blog about anything and everything related to your specific industry. If your content is good and interesting enough, it might be picked up by users of social bookmarking sites, then spread all over the Internet. All the while, you are not only gaining credibility but more hits to your website.
4. Show off your name. Saturating the Internet with useful and viable content rich in keywords related to your business can help to bring a greater number of hits to your site. When a website sees regular updates and activities, such as that seen on blogs and forums, search engines are more likely to deem it trustworthy therefore ranking it higher in search results.
