Small businesses that are considering online marketing strategies will find this booklet useful.
This booklet focuses on using social media marketing techniques to advertise your business.You may want to read this booklet in conjunction with other booklets in this series that profile
other online marketing strategies. These booklets are entitled: “Increasing Traffic to Your
Website Through Search Engine Optimization” and “Successful Online Display Advertising”
What is Social Media Marketing?
Social Media Marketing makes use of social media sites to raise visibility on the Internet and to promote products and services. Social media sites are useful for building social (and business) networks, and for exchanging ideas and knowledge. Social media networking is part of a trend known
as Web 2.0, which refers to changes in the way users and software developers use the Web. It is a
more collaborative use of the Web that enhances creativity and knowledge exchange. It is a more
interactive and user-driven way to help users participate and collaborate over the Web through
open applications and services. It is critical, therefore, that content is accessible to the user; the user should be able to create, share, remix, and repurpose content. Technologies that are accessible and affordable like Ajax (a method of building interactive applications for the Web that processes user requests immediately) and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) support Web 2.0 principles such as “user empowerment.”Social Media Marketing uses podcasts, wikis, blogs, folksonomies, online videos, photo sharing, news sharing, message boards, and posts on social networking sites to reach a large or targeted audience.
as Web 2.0, which refers to changes in the way users and software developers use the Web. It is a
more collaborative use of the Web that enhances creativity and knowledge exchange. It is a more
interactive and user-driven way to help users participate and collaborate over the Web through
open applications and services. It is critical, therefore, that content is accessible to the user; the user should be able to create, share, remix, and repurpose content. Technologies that are accessible and affordable like Ajax (a method of building interactive applications for the Web that processes user requests immediately) and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) support Web 2.0 principles such as “user empowerment.”Social Media Marketing uses podcasts, wikis, blogs, folksonomies, online videos, photo sharing, news sharing, message boards, and posts on social networking sites to reach a large or targeted audience.
Five Reasons Small Businesses Should Use Social Media to Market Their Businesses
1. You can reach a large number of people in a more spontaneous way without paying large advertising fees.
2. The use of blogs and social and business networking sites can increase traffic to your website from other social media websites. This in turn may increase your Page Rank, resulting in increased traffic from leading search engines.
3. Social media complements other marketing strategies such as a paid advertising campaign.
4. You can build credibility by participating in relevant forums and responding to questions.
5. Social Media sites have information such as user profile data, which can be used to target a specific set of users for advertising.Given these key benefits, it appears that there are few downsides to social media marketing. However, in addition to the caution highlighted earlier regarding web security, one of the key limitations of this type of marketing technique is that it takes time to participate on social media sites.
2. The use of blogs and social and business networking sites can increase traffic to your website from other social media websites. This in turn may increase your Page Rank, resulting in increased traffic from leading search engines.
3. Social media complements other marketing strategies such as a paid advertising campaign.
4. You can build credibility by participating in relevant forums and responding to questions.
5. Social Media sites have information such as user profile data, which can be used to target a specific set of users for advertising.Given these key benefits, it appears that there are few downsides to social media marketing. However, in addition to the caution highlighted earlier regarding web security, one of the key limitations of this type of marketing technique is that it takes time to participate on social media sites.
Tips for Using Social Media Sites to Promote your Business:
1. Contribute, collaborate, inform, educate but do not sell.Social Media marketing is different
from paid advertising. Rather than taking a sales approach (i.e. directly promoting your product), instead consider how you can help and inform your target audience. For example, try to deliver useful and credible information that will help build your reputation and customer relationships.
2. Create high quality content.Whether you are part of a social networking site, have established your own blog, or are contributing to a blog, you need to develop interesting and high quality content. What information will your target audience find helpful?
3. Start with Small Steps and Build on Your Success.You can get a feel for how social media sites
work by commenting on other blogs, or setting up your own blog. If you have a service based small
business you can try “Yahoo! Answers”. This website provides a way for you to share your knowledge with people who are looking for that specific information.
4. Leave your name and URL when you comment on other blogs.This will help drive traffic to your website, particularly if you have provided useful or interesting information.
5. Consider video and/or photo sharing. If you are handy with a video camera you may want to
consider “how to” videos or tours of your business. These videos can be shared on appropriate social media websites (e.g. YouTube). You can also take photos of your products and share these photos with people who are interested (using for example, Flickr). A word of caution though – avoid aggressive or invasive sales tactics on these websites.
6. Join online groups or mailing lists that are related to the products and services you offer.Connect with these groups and offer information and assistance.
7. Understand how social media websites work. These sites are all about connecting and collaboration. Adopt a collaborative, helpful approach and be an active contributor. These sites generally have rules against aggressive sales tactics.
from paid advertising. Rather than taking a sales approach (i.e. directly promoting your product), instead consider how you can help and inform your target audience. For example, try to deliver useful and credible information that will help build your reputation and customer relationships.
2. Create high quality content.Whether you are part of a social networking site, have established your own blog, or are contributing to a blog, you need to develop interesting and high quality content. What information will your target audience find helpful?
3. Start with Small Steps and Build on Your Success.You can get a feel for how social media sites
work by commenting on other blogs, or setting up your own blog. If you have a service based small
business you can try “Yahoo! Answers”. This website provides a way for you to share your knowledge with people who are looking for that specific information.
4. Leave your name and URL when you comment on other blogs.This will help drive traffic to your website, particularly if you have provided useful or interesting information.
5. Consider video and/or photo sharing. If you are handy with a video camera you may want to
consider “how to” videos or tours of your business. These videos can be shared on appropriate social media websites (e.g. YouTube). You can also take photos of your products and share these photos with people who are interested (using for example, Flickr). A word of caution though – avoid aggressive or invasive sales tactics on these websites.
6. Join online groups or mailing lists that are related to the products and services you offer.Connect with these groups and offer information and assistance.
7. Understand how social media websites work. These sites are all about connecting and collaboration. Adopt a collaborative, helpful approach and be an active contributor. These sites generally have rules against aggressive sales tactics.
Using Social Bookmarking:
Social bookmarking refers to saving web links to websites that you want to remember. You can save these bookmarks for yourself or share them with others. There are specific social bookmarking websites where users bookmark many sites and then tag them with many descriptive words. This allows other people to search by those terms to find those pages. Most social bookmark sites encourage users to organize their bookmarks with informal tags. These sites usually
include information about the number of users who have bookmarked certain websites. The sites also typically offer web feeds for their lists of bookmarks. If you subscribe to this feed you are updated as to new bookmarks.In terms of its potential for marketing, the more often a web page is submitted and tagged, the more traffic that website will likely receive. People are more likely to visit
a website that has been saved as a bookmark by others.
include information about the number of users who have bookmarked certain websites. The sites also typically offer web feeds for their lists of bookmarks. If you subscribe to this feed you are updated as to new bookmarks.In terms of its potential for marketing, the more often a web page is submitted and tagged, the more traffic that website will likely receive. People are more likely to visit
a website that has been saved as a bookmark by others.
