[This is a guest post by Gagandeep Singh. Gagandeep Singh is a freelance writer and mainly writes on social media, making money online, affiliate marketing, web 2.0 and conversion rate optimization. Feel free to contact him on twitter at gagan4687 ]
More than 70% of online buyers visit social media websites before buying anything and around 50% of them take the decision on the basis of the information they get from these websites.* As the impact of social media on consumer behavior is growing at rapid rate it is very important for every business owner to have a presence on these social media websites.
What follows next are the seven tips which will help you in building your presence on social media from scratch.
Defining Objectives– Before working on your social media presence it is very important to figure out what you’re trying to accomplish from it. Are you joining these websites for taking feedback from your customers or for reputation management of your brand or just to increase your brand awareness or to increase your sales? Having clear goals at the beginning will help you to track the effectiveness of your social media campaigns.
Be everywhere– Whenever we talk about social media only few popular websites like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin comes to the mind. But there are hundreds of websites out there which means that there are hundreds of ways which your customer can use to find you. Try to get listed on as many websites as possible. Use same profile name on all social media websites so that it becomes easy for your users to find you. Connect all of your social media accounts to each other, so that updates in one website appear on your other profiles too and each profile shows the latest information about your company.
Listen first – It is always good to listen to your target audience for few weeks in beginning before participating in conversations with them. Set up alerts for conversation relevant to your industry. You will definitely learn something about your industry from each conversation you listen.
Contribute regularly – Try to be consistent on social media websites. Keep your Twitter and Facebook profile updated with current information. Contribute interesting and useful information to community regularly. The more consistent you will be on social media website, more influence you will have in the community and more quickly you will be building relationships with your target audience.
Be patient– Don’t expect overnight results. It takes time to get noticed on social media platforms depending on the amount of efforts you are putting into it. Don’t get discouraged with failures and learn to deal with negativity. Remember that you are using social media to build relationships and credibility for your brand and it takes lot of time, dedication and hard work to build them.
Launch Contests – Organizing exclusive contests or offering discount coupons is a great way to connect with your target audience. Organizing such contest not only help you to create a buzz amongst your community but also provides you with a great opportunity to interact with your customers and to earn some credibility.
Track results – According to survey by Mzinga and Babson 84% of companies don’t measure results of their social media campaigns which mean that they are making their strategy on the basis of mere predictions. So don’t do the same mistake. It is very important to find out which social media sources are sending you most of the traffic and why? Why you are getting poor results from few? Each social media platform has its own ecosystem and rules. Monitor results and continue your campaign with the top performers.
Creating a presence on social media websites is not difficult but it demands lot of time, effort and patience from you. I hope that these seven tips will help you whenever you jump to social media bandwagon.
* – Related Resource: Marketing Vox, Nearly 70% of Online Adults Use Social Media, Often Research Products
Mesina says
Great advice and just at a time I need it to be honest. I've been guest posting on a new female blogger society, which has been a fab experience. And I'm just about to run my first giveaway which I hope will help traffic a bit. All in all, time and devotion is the key.
Thanks for this!
My recent post I totally ninja’d this post
@MissMesina says
Ughhh! I posted something and it dissapeared!! Well, the post in short : Great post! I've been guest blogging too and it's fabulous! Just about to run my first giveaway soon, which I hope helps. The key: Devotion and dedication – I really feel that's what gets your blogs rolling. Thanks for this!
My recent post I totally ninja’d this post
Nile says
First posts are always moderated before approved. I use to hold a few contests, but since I have changed the focus of my site, the only place I could hold my annual Hello Kitty and Pink Raffle was at my mommy blogger site. I will just have to think of something techy to giveaway here…lol.