The Importance of Social Media for Your Business

The first and most important aspect of social media that should be quickly recognized by anyone wishing to delve into the realm is that it is "social". Interaction is key to a successful social media marketing campaign. Those who fail to realize that will likely have very little response to their efforts, and may also probably give up on social media platforms altogether, believing them to be a waste of time.

Doing so would be a terrible disservice, as social media is quickly incorporating itself into the daily lives of millions – prime target marketing for those who better understand how to use the marketing capabilities of social media effectively.

Currently, three social media platforms dominate the Internet: Twitter, Facebook, and Linked:In. Each serves its own specific purpose, but all three are also able to work in conjunction with one another. From a marketing standpoint, a company that can harness the power of all three can become a marketing powerhouse.

You can learn more about each social media platform in the article "Social Networking: What Is It, and Why Your Company Should Use It."

In addition to the information found within that article, following are three key components of social media marketing, each one specific to a particular platform, that will help marketers gain an inside edge.

Marketing with Twitter

Your first instinct might be to amass as many followers as you can. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but your efforts might be better rewarded by focusing on attracting targeted followers who would be most interested in your "Tweets" and with whom you can interact, thus increasing brand recognition. This will also help you acquire free marketing when your followers "retweet" your tweets to their own followers.

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Marketing with Facebook

Pretty much the same concept as Twitter, except followers are referred to as fans. It is better to have a group of fans that you can engage with on a consistent basis than a large number of fans that never really look at your page to see what's new or don't respond to informative messages.

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Marketing with Linked:In

Again, somewhat the same concept, except the connections you make here matter highly if you’re a B2B company. You'll want to seek recommendations from some of those connections: perhaps from satisfied clients. Recommendations on Linked:In work in essence as customer testimonials, and are highly visible by anyone that may view your profile.

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Top 10 Benefits of Social Networking for Businesses

Unless you live in the middle of the forest or at the top of a mountain, with virtually no human contact or connection to civilization, you’ve heard all about the rising popularity of social networking sites. Obviously neither of those scenarios apply to you, or you wouldn’t be reading this now. So you likely know all about Twitter, Facebook, Linked:In, and other popular sites. But are you aware of the benefits of social networking sites for businesses both large and small?

Many online marketing companies and self-proclaimed Internet marketing gurus are touting social network marketing as a must for any business, but how many of them help you to understand the reasons why?

In a nutshell, here are the top 10 benefits of social networking for business:

1.     Increases Brand Recognition

2.     Increases Website Traffic

3.     Engages Potential Customers/Clients on an Interactive Level

4.     Enables Additional Means of Advertising & Promotion

5.     Decreases Online Marketing Costs

6.     Acquires New Sales Leads

7.     Facilitates Reaching Local Target Markets

8.     Content Can Be Search Engine Optimized

9.     Reach New Audiences

10. Strong Online Visibility/Social Networking Acts as an Extension of the Corporate Website

For more information about social network marketing and other online marketing solutions, contact Active Web Group. AWG is Long Island’s leading full service online marketing solutions agency.

Using Social Networking to Promote Your Company

Many companies today have strict rules about using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the workplace: sometimes access to these sites is completely blocked. Other companies have embraced social media and social networking sites as a new means to market their products and services and increase brand recognition. In fact, there are now employees or online marketing agencies retained by some companies whose sole purpose is to focus on promoting the company via social networking sites.

While it can be difficult in some cases to balance healthy social networking activities in the workplace versus those that affect productivity in a negative way, it is ultimately beneficial to a company to allow its employees to promote the company, provided certain guidelines are implemented and enforced.

As a manager or owner of a company, you’ll likely find that satisfied employees will promote the company not only in the workplace, but also during their personal time at home, via social networking and social media sites. Provided your employees are aware of and understand the social networking policies developed by your company, such promotion should be welcomed and encouraged. Today’s online marketplace is all about brand awareness and visibility – having a team of employees furthering the cause while off the clock translates to cost-effective marketing with a high ROI.

Social Networking Guidelines for Employees
Allow employees to post links to industry-related information, or announcements about upcoming specials or sales. You might even consider paying employees to do this on an ongoing basis. However, some employees might also take their own initiative and do this anyway during their own personal social networking time at home. While this is generally a good thing, there might be reasons you prefer not to have employees engage in these marketing tactics. Therefore it would be worthwhile to instruct employees as to whether or not these actions are desired, and if you would prefer them to focus on any particular method or means of promotion.

Of course, if using social networking to promote your company is permitted, then the postings or Internet discussions by employees should always be supportive and positive. Additionally, managers should make it clear as to what types of company-related information is permitted to be posted, and what is to remain private information. Posting or discussing the wrong types of information, or even worse, confidential company information, can damage a company’s reputation, not to mention an employee’s career and employment.

A refined example of a company’s social networking guidelines for employees can be found at the Oracle website. Aside from the guidelines posted there, additional suggestions for employee’s efforts to promote their company online include using social bookmarking sites to share articles, press releases, or other industry and company related information. Employees can also share videos, pictures and links, and encourage others to become friends, followers or fans of a company’s Facebook or Twitter account, if applicable.

If your company employs a copywriter or web marketer versed in SEO techniques, it may be helpful to have them instruct your employees about the usefulness of keywords. Employees that promote your company online by using specific targeted keywords when applicable will make it much easier for others to find that information and subsequently find their way to your website. Likewise, including hyperlinks in blog postings, forum postings, or other related means also serves to increase ways in which your website can be found.

For additional web marketing resources, articles, and industry-related press releases, visit the resources section of Active Web Group, Long Island’s leading online marketing solutions company. Additionally, be sure to sign up for their free email newsletter, which offers even more internet marketing tips and information.