Growing Your Business…..Drive Targeted Prospects to Your Site Using the Power of Social Media

Are you not getting enough sales from the Internet?

Is your competition outranking you in search engines?

Are you wondering how to turn your “Likes” into leads, and convert them into cash?

Are you worried about your site not getting enough visitors?

Or do you need people to join your mailing list?

Don’t worry, you are not alone if you answered YES to any of those questions. Many other online business owners have faced the same dilemmas. However, you don’t have to despair.

Here’s why:

In the last 12 months, more and more business owns started to use social media marketing to promote their business with great results. About 86% of them said that social media is now a significant part of their business, while 89% of them reported that it benefits them by increasing their exposure to the market.

Just think about these facts which increase on a daily basis:

•Facebook has 1.23 BILLION active users

•Google + has 345 million active users

•Every second, 2 members join LinkedIn

•70% of Pinterest users are female

•YouTube has more than 1 billion unique users every month

•Grandparents are now the fastest growing demographic on Twitter

•400 million tweets are sent each day

•53% of Twitter users recommend products in their tweets

•93% of shoppers’ purchasing decisions are greatly influenced by social media

•90% of consumers trust the recommendations of their peers

You would be insane not to take advantage of these opportunities and be part of the social media revolution.

So Do You Want to Dive Into Social Media Marketing and Get Thousands More Customers?

There are many benefits and reasons why you should focus more on social media marketing, and here are some of them:

•increased exposure

•improved traffic

•more loyal fans

•increased leads

•new business relationships

•improved search engine ranking

•increased sales

•reduced marketing costs

•better marketplace insight

How Do You Grow Your Business Via Social Media?

It all starts with being active on the social networks that matter and never let the customers forget about you. But that’s just a start. Social media marketing is about communicating with your target audience, informing them about your business, and eventually getting them involved.

As a business owner, you should at least have a basic working knowledge of what social media marketing is all about. You should know how to connect with people, especially your target market, through social media, to create excellent content that moves people to act, and to create relationships.

It is important to get them engaged and feel involved.It could produce customer feedback, leads, and the opportunity to give them excellent customer service. But you will not get the response that youare hoping for unless you share your information the right way.There are a few steps that you need to follow if you want to use social media to help your business grow.

DEVELOP A STRATEGIC PLAN

Social media marketing must be executed with a strategy that encompasses your goal and the measures of success. The best plan is to develop social media engagement. It should include how frequently you are going to produce content, what the voice of the business will be, and what response you expect to get from the people. It is not about hard selling, but about forging relationships. Do not overdo your sales pitch. Instead, try to gain your audience’s trust.

STIR THE INTEREST OF YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

Monitor and update your social media accounts regularly so as not to neglect the queries, comments and even complaints of your potential customers or existing ones. Timely responses are necessary to lower the chances of ruining customer relationships. It would be even better to attract your customers’ attention using visuals, such as beautiful or funny photos,which are often easy to share. Hone your timing in joining conversations.You can also look for the latest object of your customers’ affection by searching for #hashtags, Facebook posts, or tweets.

BUILD A SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNITY FOR GREAT PROJECTS

Social media marketing can be used for the long haul. You can maximize its potentials if you get help from a social media community, such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, who shares the same interests as you do.You can convince friends and their friends and colleagues to join that community, but as it grows, rules must be established.

BLOG, BLOG, BLOG

Blogging is a proven effective tool in social media marketing. Your blog serves as your home base with your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites serving as feeders that bring traffic to your blog. Every new blog brings new sales and traffic opportunities. The typical consumer behavior is to read about 10 blogs before making a buying decision.

ENGAGE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

If you’re on social media, be prepared to interact with followers. This means starting conversations, responding to questions, and being friends with your customers online. Use it to forge relationships.

AVOID HARD SELLING

Do not abuse the social media sites as your avenue for selling. Instead,focus more on engaging your followers instead of bombarding them with calls to action do something for you, if you don’t want them to stop following you.

Whatever social media outlet becomes popular over the years, one thing isfor sure – social media marketing will always be useful to businesses and marketers.

HOW SOCIAL MEDIA TRAFFIC CAN BOOST YOUR WEBSITE RANKING

There are claims that search engines are out and social media is in when it comes to searching for information online. However, this is not the case now, but there might be merit to such claims. Social media has truly changed the way people find and share content, although it has not totally removed the significance of Google, Bing and Yahoo to searchers.But one thing that is certain is that social media has become an important factor that search engines consider when indexing content. It affects your website ranking in various ways.

SOCIAL SHARES ARE CONSIDERED LINK BUILDING

For years, businesses have used both legitimate and illegitimate ways to get links to their website and improve their rankings. However, things have changed.

Now, links are obtained by creating original content and sharing it online,especially across social media. Links from your Facebook, LinkedIn,Google+, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks to your content will show the search engines that your website is credible with useful content and that it should be ranked for the keyword phrases that you used.Look at how a link that is retweeted a number of times compared to a link that did not receive a single tweet will be more visible in Google and other search engines since it is assumed to have more valuable content for being shared several times on social media.

Produce great content on social media to attract audiences and search engines alike. But the most important thing is still to engage your followers and establish real relationships with them to gain their trust and hopefully,their social shares.

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT SPEEDS UP INDEXATION PROCESS

Search engines consider content shared across social networks. The more links your website gets, the quicker it gets indexed. Since social media can drive links to your web content faster, it can usually hasten the indexation process.For instance, content that has received more retweets may cut indexation time by 50, while cutting the time it takes for the search engine bots to locate your content from two hours to two seconds.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING INCREASES BRAND AWARENESS

When you talk to people on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social network,you seem more “real” to them. Your image is now more than just a corporation that is disconnected from your customers. Instead, you talk to them while tackling real issues related to your products and services. It is like having an actual relationship with them, which will likely give you customer loyalty and long-term business.

VALUABLE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA IS SHAREABLE

If people find useful or informative content on social media, they would share it with friends and followers to spread the information or make their profile more interesting. But regardless of the reason why they share it, the most important thing is that they are helping spread the word about your business. The wider the reach of the information, the better it will be for your website rankings.

KEYWORDS FROM YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILE AND CONTENT BOOST YOUR KEYWORD RANKING

They keywords found on your social media account and the content posted in it will have an impact on your content ranking in search engines. Usually,search engines look at your URL, name, and bio. That’s why you need to fill your profile with relevant information while naturally inserting the name of your company and your keywords.

These are only some of the ways social media affect your website rankings. But the bottom line will always be that it has become an even bigger factor for search engines to consider while determining website rankings.

THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

When social media was first introduced, it created such a splash among early adopters. Now, it is an important part of an individual user’s and a marketer’s life. However, that importance goes beyond the fact that it is something new, but rather because it has proven its worth. This is how social media has matured and grown in value to the marketing world and to society in general.

Social media has undergone a few significant changes. While it used to be a platform for anything viral, it has now become a platform for meaningful engagement. Companies need to ensure that they not only have a Facebook account, but that they are also active in it while engaging their followers by posting informative, relevant content.Consumers now use social media to engage with their favorite brands.They use it to relay their message to the companies and to fellow consumers.

IT’S ALL GOING MOBILE

Mobile is going to dominate over desktop when it comes to accessing the Internet. In fact, it’s starting to show now. But it is more than just using tablets and smartphones. Your car dashboard will eventually have a built-in touchscreen browser, a technology that you can now find in Tesla

Model S, the first of its kind of vehicular mobile Internet.

Then there’s wearable technology, such as Google Glass, that revolutionizes connectivity. Google has just announced adding more sales channels for their wearable product, which might soon enough before major eyewear brands will also get their hands on this technology.

This is not pie in the sky speculation or a prediction for something way off in the future. It is happening now. As a result, you need to make your content and social media platforms mobile-friendly. This means creating shorter text content, introducing tappable elements, and using video to improve mobile user experience. Try to include more visual elements to the mix.

Next Steps

If you like what you have read here and want your business to profit from social media marketing, remember that we are here to answer any questions you might have. We would also be happy to offer you a complimentary, free of charge online marketing audit. This audit will take a look at your existing positioning and make some suggestions about how you can use social media to position your business in your market.

We look forward to you claiming your free audit.