I know many of you are already familiar with the term Social media. The chances are; you probably use some of the social media sites, on a daily basis, to share your insights and personal stories with others.
Before there was internet, traditional businesses had to collaborate with external agents like the marketing firms and advertising agencies to coordinate all the elements of their promotional mix. Thanks to the web and the immense growth of the social media outlets, the way businesses and individuals communicate and network with each other has taken a quantum leap.
Nowadays, with just a simple set of tools, anyone can be in cahoots, build social and business connections, work on projects and share information from any corner of the globe. Amazing; isn’t it?
Why has social media become so valuable?
Social media marketing is one of the best concepts ever; hats off to the person that thought about it first!
One of the major reasons why social media is so valuable is because they greatly support branding. Besides that, they enable the social and active marketers to reach a far greater audience as opposed to their less social counterparts.
If used properly and regularly, social sites like delicious, digg, reddit, stumbleupon, .., can drive hundreds and thousands of visitors to your site, over time. Mybloglog, blogcatalog, blogengage are some the social communities where you will also be able to find people that are interested and willing to help each other out, to gain maximum benefits.
All these surreal connection with people from around the globe would never be possible without the social media.
Some key things to consider..
In order to have a greater impact on your business, you should really spend some time and effort in building your social presence. However, using social media should be just a part of your overall promotional strategy and should never be the only tactic to implement for your business.
Even though the people that use social media sites won’t frequently engage with you at first, they will carry the perception of your brand in mind. So that later on, as you become a regular; they are very likely to check what you have to offer. This is why these outlets are awesome for driving great flow of traffic to your site and get more conversions.
Understanding the basic principles of social marketing and how the various social outlets actually work is the key for not only your marketing efforts but for your overall ballyhoo.
Blogging and its impact on social marketing:
Blog in itself is an awesome social marketing tool. The basics of social media marketing while blogging mainly revolves around:
- Creating contents that attract audience like bees to honey.
- Encouraging your audience to share your contents with others in the network.
Social media marketing along with posting strategies, commenting, social widgets, .., makes your audience and brand grow; enabling your blog to be an awesome platform to try out various business formats for long term success.
Proper use of the social media:
A lot of bloggers join the social media sites but are not active in it. (Time is always the factor!) But, befriending fellow members on the sites is the only way to see results. Having followers that tag you, vote on your content, leave comments or simply share your stuff gives your brand promotion a whole new meaning.
Having an authoritative profile is essential to start with. As every social media is different, studying their features is going to be a big help for effective promotion. Also being familiar with the rules of the site helps to keep your account active and not get banned (O:
It is all about doing it…
It is okay to start out being a lurker – to see what is going on, who is talking, who you can relate to; then you can gradually start the conversation. It is important to understand that this is a commitment so, if you are going to get involved; stay involved.
Networking is all about conversation and almost all the time you need to start a conversation and participate. Do not wait for somebody else to come to you! Go knocking on their door and say hello. Need to start talking if you want to see results!
Starting a conversation along with crafting links and regular participation puts you out there amongst others that are looking for information in your niche and are wanting to network with a business like yours.
Power linking strategies in social media outlets are a great way to hoard in organic and repetitive traffic to your site. This in turn also gives your site a boost in search engine ranks.
Creating a system:
Regularly promoting your brand can be a task when you have so many things on the plate. That is why a system that fits your schedule is critical. A system helps you be more efficient as you will be following your own plan for social media marketing.
So, build your own guide and find out what really works for you!
Do you have a social media marketing plan yet? What social media tactics do you use to gain maximum benefits for your brand?
Leave comments down below to share your thoughts and insights. If you like this article please Tweet it, share it in Facebook and your favorite social media outlets.
Here’s to your successful business endeavor!
-Adam Paudyal.
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Before you go...
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I created this blog to chronicle the success and failures of my various online endeavors and to share with you the knowledge I gain along the way... 
Hi Adam
Hey have you been in my back office reading my posts to be published lol
I am just about to publish (tomorrow) on my 2 favourite activities…tweeting and blog commenting
Just my take with hopefully others chiming in and giving their 2 cents worth.
Social media is a must for success in the blogosphere IMHO. Can’t understand when people hesitate. Maybe they see too many scammers spoiling it for others. If anyone scams me I unfollow them on Twitter.
With new comments on my blog; I always check the blog site and if at all possible will reciprocate with a comment on their site. Building community and I love it.
As we interact, we build trust which I think is essential for building a loyal reader and hopefully potential customer base. Just need to do it, as you rightfully share in this post Adam.
Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia recently posted..So Little Time- So Much To Do
Pat,
You didn’t know that I am a secret agent. haha
Fixing to check your post and leave some of my thoughts..
Thanks for the insights..
Later!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Patricia Millman, Adam Paudyal. Adam Paudyal said: What In The Heck Is Social Media Marketing? – http://endeavor-online.com/?p=7093 [...]
Adam,
I am currently working on my social media marketing plan for the next year. I will be focusing on using social media to market my business, but I also plan to integrate some traditional marketing activities into my marketing plan. I want to increase my exposure to actually meeting people in person and not just online. I love the cost effectiveness of online marketing, especially social media marketing, but it is time consuming. I am looking to streamline the process and focus on the areas that are most effective for me. Offline I am looking to increase the classes, workshops and pro-bono clients that I work with. The new year will be here quickly, looking to finish up my plan in between working on clients plans.
Jenn
Hello Jennifer,
You really have a point there – I agree social media marketing is important but should never be the only promotional option for your business. It is wise not to put all your eggs in one basket. Ya know!
Time consuming; definitely. But it could be certainly worth it if you can create a system that works. Finding what works for you is all about trial and error!
Good luck on the plan Jennifer and really appreciate your comments.
Later!
Hi Adam,
Thanks for the reminder. i got to admit i am not so active in social media and that’s the reason why my percentage of traffic from social media is quite low. You have listed out two most important criteria to fully utilize social media. To create valuable content and encourages sharing.
Thanks a lot for sharing.
Lye
Lye Kuek Hin recently posted..10 Blogging Questions that Newbie Bloggers Need to Answer
Lye,
It really takes time to see the results. Of course, you can’t expect hundreds of visitors to your site in a week or even a month. But if you use it regularly and get to know the people, this is possible.
Social media is a great tool to leverage an online business..indeed; which reminds me of all the thing that I need to do in mu to do list.
Thanks for the comments Lye. You have a good one!
My social media marketing plan is always evolving and a work in progress. At first, I didn’t think it was very important. Facebook is decent but twitter never gave me much traffic….in fact, I have really ramped up my twitter efforts and still I get only a handful of visitors each day. Perhaps it is the niche I am in. It did however help me make good relationships with other bloggers.
Susan recently posted..Fitness Challenge of the Week – Week 3
Hello Susan!
Great to see you here. Really appreciate the comments.
It is always work in progress, to tell you the truth (O:
Hi Adam,
Wonderful basic social media tips here.
I used to be afraid to start the conversation. Yes, I was a “lurker.” When I realized that lurkers get left behind I become more sociable.
The power of social media is had in connections made. If you can talk to other people and express genuine interest in their well being most will express an interest in you. That’s the way it seems to work.
I’mm glad you mentioned the time element. It takes time to grow a following, it takes time to build a network, it takes time to build trust. Be patient and social media marketing can reap great dividends for you.
Thanks for sharing and have a powerful day!
RB
Ryan Biddulph recently posted..3 Reasons Why You&8217re a Work at Home Sucker
Spot on Ryan; It is all about the well being for both parties. This is when the social media relationships really give results.
Time is always the factor. Like you mentioned it takes time to build trust. So, we do need to be patient.
Thanks for adding so much value to the conversation man.
Later on..
I love that you mention lurking – a lot of people fail to do this and almost rush to quickly into social media that they start on the wrong foot.
Lurking lets you figure out what’s going on and how the community reacts to certain messages – then you make the jump.
Murlu recently posted..Blog and Income Report- November 2010
Right on Murray! Lurking has its own importance. It is better to study everything up front than to jump on the wrong foot. I agree man!
Hi Adam:
Another outstanding post. I can feel how you are paying attention to social media these days. As you are planning your next steps to business you are realizing the importance of social media where you can find bundles of prospects with little work every day and that will grow your lists and subscribers exponentially. Great insight Adam. But once you get subscribers and list members from social sites these people must move away very fast, unless you have a
magnetic solution for them to stay. so plan effectively.
This post is written with your outstanding style and
includes your insight, future planning and how to handle social media. It is a comprehensive post.
All the best
fran A
Fran Aslam recently posted..Selecting Info Products – Top 10 Tips for Best Results
Thanks Fran!
Effective planning is necessary. I am slowly but surely working on my social media marketing plan. So very true about the visitors from social media sites; gotta come up with a magnetic solution huh!
I am glad you enjoyed the post.
You take care!
I really liked your “historical” view in the beginning of the article. I am constantly astounded by the amazing things aspects of the online world like social media have changed the way the world does business over the past few years. It never seems like a lot until you look back 10 years and realize how much has changed in that little space of time.
Anyhow, great article. I think you touched on many of the important “bases’ of social media. Even lurking…which is not necessarily a bad thing, until you figure out what is going on in a social network. But ultimately for social media to be effective a blogger certainly needs to do more than “lurk”
Thanks for a nice thought provoking post.
Steve recently posted..Get More Blog Traffic Blueprint Week 4
Now, thats what I call adding value Steve. To get results, lurking isn’t going to be enough. That is the truth, and nothing but the truth (O:
Yup a lot has changed in a very small time frame. this always makes me wonder what the heck is going to happen in the future! I guess we will just have to wait and see huh!
Thanks for the wonderful insight Steve.
You have a great day!
Hi Adam.
Nice post. I totally agree that social media will help us to get brand exposure. As an internet marketing executive, how do i know that i got good branding over social media? When will my branding get full filled?
Expecting your reply..
Good day..
Thiru recently posted..14dayzcom – Simple Online time tracking
Hey Adam,
Great article! Reminds me of the one I did on leveraging your social network on Twitter.
Thus, I’ll say find one you’re interested in and work the heck out of it. You don’t know until you go out there is a very great way to put it as you’ve said. After all, how can you know something unless you’ve tried it.
You might be the best there is! Hehe.
Well, thanks for the awesome article. I’ll talk to you soon.
Cheers!
Thu
Thu Nguyen recently posted..Get Up- Stand Up- I’m Blogging This – Blog Unite- Empowering People with Disabilities
Hi Adam, I think it’s good to remember that social media was not nearly as important 10 or even 5 years ago than it is today. I remember starting my coin business in 2003 and I was active on a few forums, but that was about it. I mostly relied on article marketing.
For my newsletter business, I belatedly realized last year that I was at a disadvantage not being on Facebook, Twitter, etc. on a professional basis. Even so, it took me a while to get a blog going and learn about how to do the new social media.
As far as what’s worked for me, I started first with Facebook, then thoughtful comments, and then I figured out Twitter. I’ve learned a lot from the mastermind group too.
Jennifer Barry recently posted..A Visit to the Future- Singularity University- Part 1
Hi Adam,
blogging was definitely change by social media, now you really can go viral, your brand can become huge and your impact on the blogosphere can be tremendous .
All because of social media, I agree on that the proper use and proper frequency are the key, no ones like outsiders or spammers.
Great article here! RT
Adam recently posted..Is Everyday Writing A Good Idea
Hey Adam, great analysis on leveraging social media for a business. I’m still learning, but I think that taking the time to stay active in social media and interacting A LOT with others are probably the most important ways to use social media. That’s what I’ve experienced anyway! Thanks for sharing
Elise recently posted..8 Free Traffic Tips You Probably Never Knew About
Although, I have my blog linked to Facebook and Twitter, I still don’t have a Social Media Marketing plan. I guess it’s about time I give it a serious thought.
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