You've probably heard the entire rave about Twitter recently, not to mention Facebook and MySpace. But did you know you can utilize these platforms to reach more people which will increase sales for your work at home business?
You may or may not know, but there are literally millions of people on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Combined there are probably billions of people. Those people are your potential customers or at least they may be a link to your potential customers.
The idea behind each of these social networking sites is to connect your friends to your friend's friends and their friend's friends to more friends. Get it? And while MySpace and Facebook may be geared more toward building friendships, they can also be used to build your business, whether it's online or not. Here's how it works.
You have a website for your business and hopefully a business blog. You write a blog post about a special deal, a new product or a service. That's good. Search engines like sites that are updated regularly and put them higher in the ranks than static sites.
Now, suppose you announce that new blog post on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking sites? Think of all the potential people that will see the link to your blog post and click on it. How many more people will see it and act? The potential is millions.
"They" say social network marketing IS becoming THE way to market online and there are hundreds of different social networking platforms you can choose from. Obviously you probably won't ever know about all of them, nor would you be able to keep up with them all.
The three mentioned above are the most popular and if you don't belong to at least one of them, preferably two, you're missing the potential to reach millions of people. You definitely need to be on Twitter and either Facebook or MySpace.
More about Twitter:
With Twitter alone, you have the potential to reach more people on the Internet than ever with your business. Right now there are an estimated 6 million people registered on Twitter. That number is expected to rise even higher in the next year, to over 18 million people!
When you post a "tweet" on Twitter, not only do your followers see it, often they "re-tweet" your tweet which goes out to their followers and their followers re-tweet to their followers. So, you want to make your tweets worth re-tweeting. Does all this tweeting make any sense yet? It will once you're on Twitter.
If you haven't joined yet, I urge you to do so now and start building friendships with fellow Tweeters. And don't just tweet about business. Build relationships with others who are in the same line of business, and build true friendships with some of your followers.
If you don't have time to market your business using social networking, hire a social networking manager. They will do all your social network marketing for you as your representative. This can be worked many different ways, and your social networking manager will give you some ideas of how it can and should be done the best way for your business.
It will be well worth the cost of hiring a social networking manager as you'll soon be reaping the benefits of added traffic to your sites and more traffic means more sales.
Other popular social networking platforms are LinkedIn, MyBlogLog, Kirtsy (for women's sites), Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon.
If your offline business doesn't have a website, get one now. You're missing out on literally millions of potential customers.
Web 2.0 has increased the ability to communicate and collaborate across the World Wide Web. As a result, social media/networking sites have popped up everywhere and have become the darlings of the small and home-based business world because there is virtually no cost to participate and it casts a very wide net.
However, because of its size and accessibility it can also become a very time consuming and overwhelming endeavor. Creating a plan that is focused on the audience you want to reach and is practical for the amount of time you can devote will make utilizing social media a breeze. All you need to do is set goals, do the research, make a plan, take action, and maintain your strategy.
Before beginning the strategy, jot down a few goals that you wish to achieve as a result of participating in social media/networking activities. Make sure they are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely (S.M.A.R.T.). Listing a goal of "I want to increase traffic to my website" provides no clear way to quantify or assess your results.
A better goal would be "I want to increase traffic to my website resulting in 200 new leads in the next 6 months". This goal follows the S.M.A.R.T. protocol and the results will be very easily tracked. Keep your list of goals to a minimum (4 - 6), they can and should be updated regularly.
The next step is to conduct research on social media activity in your industry. Spend the time to search blogs, forums, and niche social networking sites that relate to your industry. Also search the big three social networks (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn) and make note of how your competition is represented and what they are doing.
Keep a list of all the sites peak your interest, we will use these in our plan.
Once you have your goals and an idea of what sorts of avenues are available for your industry its time to start planning. Your plan should include the who, what, how, when, and why of your goals and will be backed up by your research.
Example:
What is going to increase traffic to my website? (Goal) Since I've done the research I now know that a blog and a facebook group are the best way to funnel traffic to my website. (Research) Once you have answered each of the questions and prioritized them - your plan is complete.
Now it is time to take some actions. Your first action step would be to create profiles in the sites that you have chosen. Make sure you are creating the best profiles possible by utilizing any extras that the site may have. For example in Twitter you can create a custom background, in LinkedIn you can pin your blog to your profile page, and in Facebook you can create a personalized web address for your group page.
Remember to add tracking and evaluation to your action steps so that you may occasionally stop to measure the results of your strategy and make any necessary changes.
The last item in your social media plan is to maintain your presence and manage your online reputation. Make time everyday to contribute to the sites in which you participate. Post on your blog at least once a week and interact with the members of your Facebook group regularly.
Don't forget to keep up with what people are saying about you...if there is a problem you want to be able to address it immediately. Remember that social media is all about communication and collaboration don't use this medium as a hard sell tactic, instead try to create relationships and form common bonds with other users on the sites. You'll be surprised by the exponential growth of your network and the opportunities it will create.
posted by Chris Simpson
1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 17th 2009
If you are not familiar with social networking, it's about time that you learn more about it. Why? Well, social networking is one way that you can improve the success of your work at home business. Many people have found that just using social networking can make a business more profitable.
Using social networks out there, such as Facebook, MySpace, and even Twitter, can definitely be profitable for you. Here's a look at some of the benefits social networking can bring to your business and how to use them appropriately for the best results.
Bring in New Clients
One of the benefits of getting involved in social networking sites for your business is that it can help you to bring in new clients. You'll meet many people on these sites that are looking for the type of services that you are offering. If you use these options the correct way, you'll quickly begin to have inquiries from people out there that are interested in what you have to offer. More than likely you'll begin to bring in even more clients.
Brand Your Business
Of course branding is another benefit that you'll enjoy when you get involved in social networking. Branding is how you are able to set yourself apart from others in the same business. You'll quickly be able to build up your name out there and people will become familiar with all you have to offer.
Drive More Traffic to Your Business Site
You'll be driving more traffic to your business site by using social networking sites as well. Each time you post on these sites, you will probably notice that you get a new influx of traffic to the site. Traffic is important when you are running a home business, and you can definitely increase traffic through social networking.
Great PR for Your Business
Social networking also offers you great PR for your business. This is PR that is totally free to you and you only need to spend a bit of time on it to make it a success for your work at home business. Get important news out there about your business and it's just as great as other paid forms of PR.
New Contacts and Referrals
Often you'll be able to make new contacts and get referrals when you use social networking. When you build up a good network, you'll meet new people and often people that are familiar with your business will refer someone else to your business. When you get your name out there in this way, contacts and referrals will begin to come in.
Correct Ways to Network
Of course it is definitely important that you know the correct ways to use social networking sites. Using them in the wrong way will not bring about the success that you want. First of all, you must be active for social networking to work. You'll need to actually contribute to conversations and get out there and become visible on the site. Just joining won't be enough. It's important that you avoid spamming as well. People don't like it and you won't get anywhere with people if you constantly are spamming them.
Follow us on our social networking site of choice today by clicking here.
posted by Chris Simpson
2 Comments »
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