Pauline E. Ranger Businesses and marketers are adopting new social marketing methods to reach out in a reliable, consistent, and cost-effective manner.
Take advantage of the LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter platforms.
Create your profile
Create a complete, detailed personal profile. You will find it easier to be seen by people if you’re thorough. List your skills, and include your summary and a professional picture of yourself in your profile to boost your credibility.
Promote your LinkedIn profile
Add a link to your LinkedIn profile in your email signature. You can also print it on your cards.
Monitor and grow your network
Importing your existing contact lists from your email program will help you determine if any of your contacts have joined LinkedIn. It is essential to regularly search through your email contact list for people that you may want to connect with.
LinkedIn Groups are a great way to connect with people
LinkedIn members can join up to fifty groups. This is an excellent opportunity to meet new people. Look for groups with many members or those organized around your industry (if you are a small company).
Get Recommendations
Lists of LinkedIn recommendations are a great way to establish trust. They’re one of the features that people look for when they view someone’s LinkedIn profile for the very first time. Ask for LinkedIn recommendations from satisfied customers willing to give testimonials.
Integrate your blog into LinkedIn
Add the BlogLink application to your LinkedIn profile. The application will display your profile website links under the Applications section.
Ask questions
Asking questions is a great way to connect with other people on Facebook. People love to share their opinions and talk about themselves. Your posts will appear higher on users’ feeds if you receive more comments and likes.
Facebook’s highest engagement levels are triggered by keywords such as “where,” “when,” “would,” and “should.” The word “would” is popular, as fans use it to vote yes on a particular question.
Engage and interact
Contribute to the conversation when people comment on your wall or posts to keep users engaged. The longer the thread, the more likely it is to rank higher in the Facebook news feeds of your fans.
Wall applets that integrate walls
Instead of posting only text-based items, include interactive elements known as applets. These could be polls or coupons. These applets will encourage your fans to interact with your status updates in the news feed beyond “Likes” or comments.
Incorporate relevant photos
Show them rather than tell them about your products or services. Relevant photos will draw people to your posts.
Photos are more appealing than long texts for most people. If you upload photos, Facebook gives images more weight than other content types, so you’ll stay in your followers’ news feeds.
You can also use images to introduce your fans to your company’s employees or to show them what happens behind the scenes.
Comment on current events or ask for comments
Try to express your opinion on current issues or news without getting too heated. You can also invite others to do the same. You can ask people about the latest news, celebrity gossip, sports, or other topics. This can be a great way to get fans involved in your discussion and encourage them to interact with you.
Video Incorporated
Video is a great way to attract attention. Videos can be viewed within the newsfeed, so users won’t be redirected when playing one.
You should keep the video short to maintain the viewer’s interest. Also, you can set expectations in the text of the video so that your fans will know what it is all about. Use videos, for instance, to give people instructions on how to use your product/service.
Include links in posts
Facebook is a great place to share and spread information.
Post links to your website that people will find helpful or interesting. This will encourage users to share your links with friends and spread the word about your brand.
Posts should be explicit
Not explicitly, as in XXX or swearing, but in the sense that you tell people what exactly you want them to do. What do you want people to do after reading your post or comment?
It’s not enough to post content you think will generate traffic. You may need to specify the exact action you want people to take to get results. You can say, “Click here to use our special tool and post on your wall.”
Hashtag
Make the # symbol your friend. Twitter will turn keywords or URLs into searchable terms when you add a hashtag to them.
What does this mean to you? What does this mean for you?
Find hashtagged questions related to your business or your area of expertise. Connect with these followers.
Engage your followers
You will not achieve anything if you only tweet and never respond to your followers. Answer any questions that are raised by those who tweet you. Make sure you personalize your messages every time you engage with your followers. Nobody wants to receive a mass tweet.
Your business will gain more exposure if they retweet your information and find your message sincere.
Combining your platforms
Use an application like Tweetfeed.com or Hootsuite to syndicate your blog and Twitter account. Your Twitter followers will receive an alert whenever you publish a new post. This saves you time and energy tweeting about it.
Update your profile
Even though most of your followers only read your tweets, not your bios, maintaining a professional and up-to-date profile is still important. Consider it an extension of your company. Before clicking the “Follow,” potential new customers and followers will check out your profile.
Lists are powerful
A Twitter list is a collection of followers grouped. These lists can be used to send special offers to your customers. For example, you could list your most valued customers and tweet exclusive offers.
