Social media is the town square of the digital age. You can find everyone hanging out there.
A lot of smart people talk all the time about the role social media plays today in our lives. They all share same opinion: no matter what, it is an important, valuable concept. It has the power to attarct millions of people. It's all about your idea becoming global in the matter of hours.
However, many companies are still skeptical about marketing their businesses on social media. And that's a big problem. That's understandable, too. We've seen a lot of examples of bad social media marketing, after all.
Thing is, this apprehension makes them stick to the traditional marketing methods. What these companies do not realize is that their potential customers are internet users. Therefore, if there is a good way to get to the customers, then it through social media. Today, companies without social media presence are officially living in a different age.
It does not cost a dime for a business to join social networking sites, but it does cost time and dedication to connect to the audience. And you want to do that if you want to create a social media strategy that supercharges your revenues. Here are some ways to have a social media presence properly.
Create epic, shareable content
If you want a good social media strategy then you must stop writing boring content. There are tons of blogs and online outlets - hey, even Twitter accounts - out there that are offering very good content. If you can't do that you won't last. There are two important parts of content: how it is presented and what does it tell. Everything is more or less obvious with the first one. Just be sure that your site looks good and that articles are arranged in a way that is pleasant to the eye. However, it's the "what does it tell" part that truly matters. Even more with social media, where a few lines of content is often the only thing your potential reader would see.
Content is the reason search began in the first place, Lee Odden of TopRank Marketing has once said. Well, he's right.
Let me give you two quick tips to great content. First. Check your grammar and spelling. Nobody wants to read a poorly written article. Even if the message is great, you will lose your audience if your delivery is bad. Each mistake can result in loss of credibility. Grammarly is a tool that can check your written text for you but often Word's spellchecker will be enought. Just be cautious with words like "cautious"!
Second tip is probably a bit more complicated. You have to end your post or video or whatever with a strong Call To Action. Be it getting people to sign up or share the post, a strong CTA does the job very well. When CTA works it means that people are engaged; when they are engaged, it's difficult for them to turn away.
Use emerging social media platforms like Quora
Quora can be called a hybrid of Yahoo answers and Facebook. There's real time interaction and the people who are on Quora love to read. Splendid news for marketers like us. Best of all? Quora is growing. It's popular and has a reputation for being a place where smart people can gather.
On Quora, you can use the search option to find topics related to your niche and follow them. Whenever people ask questions in that niche you can answer them and include a link to your own site or social media account. A proactive approach is what works best here. Be early in answering the questions and write in-depth answers with images, links and backed with data. You also get credits for upvotes, answers and whenever people follow you. All of these can be used to promote your answers.
The pragmatic way to look at it is this: the more upvotes your answer gets the more traffic you get to your own blog. However, what's even more important is reputation. If you are known as a helpful and clever individual, you won't have problems attracting people to your brand.
To have a truly great social media marketing strategy, you have to have Quora presence. For millions of people today it is an indispensible tool.
Find out groups and communities that you can be a part of
LinkedIn groups are a great way to spread the message about your content. You can share your own articles in such groups. However don't be a spammer who promotes only their articles. As with Quora, proactive approach works best: it takes your time, yes, but the results will speak for themselves.
Share content that is useful to others be it your own or that of others.
Don't be too commercial
Brands like Seamless know the effectiveness of a personal touch on social media channels. Their "non-commercial", personal posts are proof that it has been working for them.
The reason why it works is obvious. People tend to grow attached to things they like and they like something that makes them feel good. Jokes and happy smiles make them feel good. Also: when each post on Facebook from a brand they have subscribed to doesn't want to actively steal their money.
Choose relevant images
Research shows that posts with images get more social media love. People are visual, it's obvious, not everybody seems to know quite how important it is.
Amit Aggarwal from Labnol finds that images that are included when sharing links on Facebook result in more number of people viewing the content. Popular social media today all have some kind of visual aspect you can use in them. Instagram is a perfect example: it's 90% visual and provided with right, relevant images your presence there can really make a difference.
Make your blog visual, too. One technique that could be really helpful sometimes but is often avoided is sharing screenshots of your website through social media accounts. People often don't follow links because they're not interested enough by limited information in the short post on Facebook or Twitter. Adding a screenshot with the beginning of the article could make those people your reading audience. After all, after the first paragraph or so you're hooked. Of course, your website has to have an appealing design for such technique to be working. If you can't or don't want to arrange a custom design for your site, just find a nice theme.
Concluding thoughts
Social media will help your business flourish. The difference between having a presence on Facebook, Twitter and all the other social media websites and not having one could truly be epic. Social media will help you go in front of a whole new audience if you know how to use it properly. Be smart, be helpful, be personal, include some images, share things about which you are passionate and you will find that social media is working for you in no time.
Have any particular techniques in mind that work great for you? Please share in the comments.