If you’ve spent any time on the internet in the last several years, then you know that Social Media is the new coffeehouse. It is where people go to socialize with their friends and learn about what is going on in the world. You can cash in on this by social media marketing for your business through these networks.

Getting yourself set up online with social media is now becoming an absolute necessity for any business, whether based in a physical location or explicitly online. This article will show you how to effectively market your company using this new marketing outlet. It’s not as hard as you might think it is. In the world of trending topics and friend requests, social media has become king. Social media incorporates the aspects of creation and sharing, as people can easily make their own content and share it with friends and followers. If you would like to use social media as an avenue for marketing, then read the following article.

Facebook

When it comes to social media marketing, you’re going to want to get involved in all areas that you can get your hands on. You’re going to want to get yourself involved in YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other media outlets that can help your business reach as many people as possible. When you reach out to more people, your potential exposure is limitless.

If you are not currently on Facebook or you aren’t using Facebook to promote your business then get on Facebook today!

Register for an account and build your profile, then create a Facebook Fan Page. Fill out as much information as you can about your company on your Facebook page. Don’t make it feel impersonal; put in that little extra effort and write a small biography about your company and upload a company logo and pictures from your company that pertain to meetings, parties, promotions etc. Help your current and future customers understand what your company is all about so that it doesn’t seem to be just another faceless company on the web.

Utilize your personal profile for your friends and family and keep your professional Facebook Fan Page for business. Do not post irrelevant and trivial posts on your social media profiles that you utilize for business. Always keep your posts professional and relevant. No one cares that you got a new cell phone, or that you are standing in line at the movies. These trivial posts should be reserved for your own personal profile, not your business profile.

Use Facebook to run a special promotion or a competition. Everyone loves winning something, so your followers are sure to get involved. Whether you offer a free product, a special high-amount coupon or a big or small prize, it will get people more actively involved with your Facebook page. It also builds goodwill with your customer base.

Ask people to “LIKE” your Facebook page everywhere. Ask on your Facebook page, on your website, in any advertising, and in your brick and mortar stores. The more individuals “LIKE” your page, the more they will spread information about your brand. This is a great way to increase business as well as your SEO rankings.

One of the advantages of social media marketing is that it allows others to advertise your products and services for you. To take full advantage of this, incorporate one-click links on your product and service web pages that enable visitors to like it on Facebook or tweet it on Twitter. It has been proven that recommendations made by friends are far more likely to convince potential customers to make purchases than most marketing tactics employed by businesses.

Build a Blog

Do you have a blog for your company? Did you know that one of the best methods for marketing your business and establishing your company as an excellent resource of information is to build a blog. Building a blog is easy and there are many options for building a blog that don’t require technical expertise.

Posting current events, even if your website isn’t meant to target news or entertainment. Your media can be shaped to better suit the time, season, or mood of the world around you. Developing a connection like this with your customers will show them that you are on top of your game, and can supply them with relevant media.

To help your customers help you spread your content, make sure blog posts have the right buttons to get easily shared. You can add Facebook Like and Share buttons, as well as Linked share ability and the Retweet button for Twitter users. When you have engaging content your regular followers like, they will spread it around the internet, hopefully drawing more followers to you.

Link your social media blog to Facebook for marketing success. Make it simple for fans of your blog to share posts with their friends. Include a share button at the top of your posts, and a like button at the top of your page. This will bring interest and traffic to your blog without additional work.

Use lists as much as possible. People love lists because they are easy to read and easy to pass on to their friends. When you produce blogs or articles with lists, those who find the information you provide useful are more likely to pass the link onto others via Facebook, Twitter, or another social networking site.

Post your blog content on Digg and Reddit. These websites attract a huge number of readers and most of these people use Twitter or Facebook to repost the articles they find interesting. Make sure you create original content on your blog that will make your readers want to share it. Always sign your articles with your name and a link to your main website.

Summary

As you can see from this article, while social media can seem intimidating for someone who hasn’t spent much time on it, it is really quite simple. As far as marketing goes, social media is actually something that is free and simple enough to do yourself without having to hire a professional.

As stated before in the introduction for this article, social media has become dominant in today’s society. The ability for users to create and share content has allowed social media to take precedence over other forms of media. By using the information in this article, you can use social media as a marketing platform.