You don’t have to be an “online” business to take advantage of Social Media Marketing. The various tools and techniques when applied correctly will help direct business to your door, be it a physical or virtual door or both!
Creating you businesses “Findability” through the various social media connections and building those most important relationships will all work towards creating the business you know you deserve.
Using Inbound Marketing skills can attract more customers to your business. Learning how to turn inbound leads to customers is really much easier than you think once you learn how to apply the correct tools and techniques to this.
Below is a brief review of some of the most important Social Media Tools and if you want or need some help then please contact me and I will be happy to help you get started in the right direction… I hope you enjoy this “free” supportive information.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Is a set of tools that make it easier for search engines to find, index, categorize and rank web content.
When using SM (Social Media) the three main starting rules are: Listen, Listen and Listen. Don’t talk about you. Start by finding communities that have a similar content to your business… then start making comments, engaging the the people there and build relationships. Be clear about your objectives, connect, create and engage.
Viral Marketing is using the social media connections to talk about something you’ve written about, be it a service or a product you provide! A really great tool here is using testimonials to create and establish your “expert” ranking in your field. This is a very quick way to get people talking about your work and referring others to your social media connection.
Link metrics and non link metrics is so important to SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Another consideration is your website architecture, there is a “flow” to every website and if you miss this connection you will lose potential readers of your website quickly.
Landing pages are really a sales person greeting people at the door of your business. Having a call to action on a landing page is the most important aspect of the landing page. Also the LP needs to be content related to the connection that brought you to this LP as well and the content has to be the same once you go from the landing page to the website for further information.
Converting leads to sales. Leads are people and the first step is to create a relationship with them and nurture this relationship. Know who your ideal client is and make your content interesting to them. With good design you can easily qualify your leads so that you know at what stage they are at to convert from a lead to a client.
Email marketing can work for you once you know how and when to use it. Again this is a fantastic tool to develop the relationships with the potential clients that have been qualified by earlier steps. Automated email follow up software is one of your best tools and can provide a cycle of supportive emails to your leads.
Analyzing inbound traffic can be a great resource for finding out who is coming to your business and why. There are four different types of traffic: Direct, Referral, Search Engine Traffic (paid or organic) and social media traffic.
Public Relations on the web via social media has taken mass media away from the few who controlled it in the past (radio, newspaper and TV) and has put mass media back in the hands of the masses. PR can help to create credibility and can be more lead generating than many other types of SM.
Social Media is knowledge – knowledge is socially mediated! When starting out using SM remember to listen first, second and third. Here’s some other tips (and this works for face to face or online SMM): Listen first, dress nicely, introduce yourself (a great chance to use your elevator speech!) and be a great conversationalist by listening to what the others have to say!
If we had to set some rules for using the web for our business, one of the first rules we should consider is this: Don’t Stink! Or at least try to stink less. We have maybe 8 seconds to get someone interested in what we have to say or offer when they come to our websites… does your website suck? Do the people coming to your website leave quicker than they arrive? How do we find out if our website sucks and what people do when they come there? Analytics! By using this most powerful tool we can find out where people are entering our site and then how deep they are going through the site and what they are doing while they are on our website.
Another great tool of SM is that it is live! People can read what you have to say and then make comment directly via LSM (live social media). You may not always get supportive comments either so you better be ready to be wrong sometimes and learn from this very valuable input source.
If you have any questions or would like further information on this subject please contact me at b.mcarthy@kaojaicoaching.com
Take care and remember to “pay it Forward”
Coach Brian
