by, Lesa Seibert, President, Xstreme Media
Social media and social networking sites are the Web's hottest trends. What is changing, is how social networks are being used by businesses and how social media is affecting branding and consumer interaction. The web has opened up a pipeline to consumers and any size business can take advantage of this opportunity. May businesses have seed wild success utilizing social media and others have failed miserably. Now is the time to get involved, if you're not already. If you are already involved, now is the time to build a social media strategy.
In our Defnining Your Objective article last Friday, how to define the objective that you want to achieve when using Social Media for marketing.
This week, we are going to discuss how to build an audience using Social Media.
To start, build out your profile(s) with content related to your brand and your industry. Provide useful links and information for the visitors you will get. Make sure to add a logo, photo and bio or business description along with relevant photos or videos. When you are ready to go find your audience, here are some useful methods:
In next weeks article, we will discuss how to measure and refine your Social Media presence.
Social media and social networking sites are the Web's hottest trends. What is changing, is how social networks are being used by businesses and how social media is affecting branding and consumer interaction. The web has opened up a pipeline to consumers and any size business can take advantage of this opportunity. May businesses have seed wild success utilizing social media and others have failed miserably. Now is the time to get involved, if you're not already. If you are already involved, now is the time to build a social media strategy.
In our Defnining Your Objective article last Friday, how to define the objective that you want to achieve when using Social Media for marketing.
This week, we are going to discuss how to build an audience using Social Media.
Building An Audience
The first thing to remember is that there is no reason to participate in Social Media if you don't have an audience. But, before you go out and ask hundreds of people to "like" you or be your friend, follower, etc., you have to demonstrate value to them.To start, build out your profile(s) with content related to your brand and your industry. Provide useful links and information for the visitors you will get. Make sure to add a logo, photo and bio or business description along with relevant photos or videos. When you are ready to go find your audience, here are some useful methods:
- Follow like-minded accounts on Twitter. Identify those accounts by listening to the conversation and searching via keyword, or phrase and utilize hash tags (# in front of a word or phrase)
- Join Groups and Pages on Facebook that are in your industry. Look at what they are saying that is being responded to. Look at how many "likes" or "members" they have
- Reach to to friends and colleagues on LinkedIn.
- Run a promotion. Offer something in return for people to become your fan, friend, follower, etc.
- Communicate with your friends and help them connect with each other. Remember, you are building a community for people to socialize.
In next weeks article, we will discuss how to measure and refine your Social Media presence.
