Jennifer N. Mathews - Social Media Marketing for Business Owners

Social Media Marketing
for Business Owners

JENNIFER N. MATHEWS

Social Media Marketing for Business Owners

All Rights Reserved

Copyright 2012 Jennifer N. Mathews

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Contents

What You Can Expect
From Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing. Everyones talking about it, and you know you need it for your business, but how do you get started? How do you know what to post? And when? And, most importantly, how do you turn fans into customers?

While social media marketing has been proven to have an overall positive impact on sales, it is not going to work overnight. Do not get discouraged if it takes a long time to build a decent following, and do not expect an instant upswing in sales. In my experience, it can take 6-8 months to build a decent following with good customer interaction and engagement.

Remember that your social media presence is like your own personal real estate. Your fans and followers grow and become more and more valuable over time. However, it is very important to maintain constant interaction with your fans. Once you build a fan base, you have to work to keep your fans engaged.

Building a following on social networking sites will take a lot of effort, but once you get the ball rolling youll gradually see results. In order to start things off on the right foot, you should include the URL to all your social networking pages on your business cards, in your email signatures and on all print advertising. It is also a good idea to have all of your employees follow each of the companys pages.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in a nutshell means optimizing your website and social media channels for specific keywords and content to help customers find you when searching via Google or other search engines. SEO can help drive qualified potential customers to your social networking pages, so be sure to put a lot of thought into the content you post. Although it is very important to build an online community made up of your current customers, it is even more vital to reach out to new potential clients. SEO will help you achieve this goal, as individuals who use a search engine may be driven to your social networking page based on one of your posts.

Once youve put all of the pieces in place, you will begin to see the several benefits that are associated with social media marketing. Your community of followers will grow on a regular basis, and many of them will become actively involved with your page. Reaching out to these followers regularly will encourage them to become brand ambassadors. These are your biggest fans and will often tell others about both your business and your page, which will result in higher follower numbers and increased sales activity. You can encourage the growth of sales by running special promotions, but pay close attention to the results. If no one takes you up on the offer, you need to tweak your message going forward.

Another perk of social media marketing is that when its done correctly, it really helps your business stand out from your competitors. The majority of your customers are likely to be online, and if your social media presence is more welcoming than that of your competitors, their customers may soon become your customers instead.

If you set realistic social media marketing goals and ensure that your pages and ads are updated regularly, then you will see a long-term positive impact. Stick with your social networking pages while theyre in their infancy and make sure to listen to the input of your followers. In time youll have a strong base of followers, and they will help introduce new potential customers to your page.

Maintaining a strong social media presence will take not only time, but will also require a firm commitment. It is very important to respond to followers who ask questions or make comments, be they positive or negative. Posting regular content, applicable to the goals of your business, combined with being responsive will help you build a strong base of followers. Building this base will take time, but in the long run it can have a very positive impact on both your overall brand image and sales.

I dont know many people that arent on Facebook these days. Remember when everyone first started launching websites for their businesses? If you didnt have one, you were behind the times. Well, its safe to say thats now the case for Facebook pages.

As youve probably heard, its not all about the numbers its about attracting RELEVANT followers and creating engagement (i.e. conversations and action on your page). However, in the beginning, its important to gain followers quickly, whether they are targeted or not. Why? Basic psychology points out that most people enjoy being a part of a crowd, and therefore the larger your follower numbers become, the more likely new people will be to follow the page as well. Can you imagine visiting a well-known brands Facebook page and finding only a handful of followers? You would assume the page is a fake (not created by the company) or they just dont know what theyre doing when it comes to social media!

Facebook allows companies and organizations to set up a business page quite easily. The first step to do this is to click on the Create a Page for a celebrity, band or business link. You may choose to create a page for a local business, a company or a brand or product, among other options. After selecting the type of page you want to create, you will be asked to complete some basic information, such as: business name, address, phone number, email address and your date of birth.

Once you have created your new business page, personalize it by including a profile picture and your company information. Include details like your mission statement, a brief description of your business or products, location, hours of operation and website address. Make sure this page truly represents your business.

Once your page is set up, include some relevant content for your audience to have something interesting to see when they visit it. Relevant content may include photos about your company, your management team or your sales people. Incorporate pictures or videos about your products and services. Add links to your webpage, blog or to articles on the web that may be relevant to your audience. Be succinct.

A tip put your website URL (you dont need the http:// part but you do need to include www) and a short description of your business in the About section so youll have a clickable link to your website. With the new Timeline for Business Pages, this is the only description people will see until they click through for more info.

Add apps such as contact forms, Twitter streams, reviews, contests and even sales apps to sell your products directly through Facebook. There are thousands of apps. Experimentation is key. But dont clutter up your page with unused or outdated apps.

You can change the image and name of the app by clicking on the drop-down button to the right of the apps on your page. Then click the drop down button next to the app you want to edit. Click Edit Tab and then follow the instructions to change the name of the app or the thumbnail image.