7 Social Media Tips for Any Niche
1. Marketing your business with social media need not be difficult
Getting your business up and running with social media doesn’t need to be a difficult process. Narrowing down your options to those most powerful to your success will not only save you time getting things in place, but it will also cut down on the amount of upkeep time required.
2. Social Networking
Although not a new concept by any means, the internet has brought social networking to a different level entirely. No longer does this term refer to meeting in person for a weekly meeting revolving around a certain interest or pastime.
Starting primarily with the advent of instant messaging, the entire concept has grown in leaps and bounds. Now there are sites dedicated to nothing but social networking; from MySpace which is used primarily by the younger crowd, to networks divided by interests, ethnicity and just about everything in between.
Most social networking sites, however, don’t have specific distinctions such as these. Members simply join the site, and find their own interest groups or niches within which they feel compatible. It is through these sites that many people choose to enter their business information into their profile or information page. Popular choices for social networking sites include: MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Linkedin.com, Squidoo.com and Twitter.com.
3. Participate and Interact
When planning your social media’s position in respect to your business, it’s important for you to ensure your interactions will be accepted positively by your online audience. You want to provide them with honest, helpful and genuine resources which can be helpful to them, either personally or for their own businesses. This means spending time researching hot topics, promoting your findings with those whom could benefit from your new knowledge. Be a leader in new topics, or try to answer someone’s questions.
By having this personal interaction with those who frequent your social media platforms, you are not only helping them with their own personal situations. You are providing yourself with a presence online. This presence is one your readers, customers and potential clients will grow to appreciate, and knowing you’re aware of what’s going on and reaching out to provide guidance or clarification whenever needed shows a lot about the kind of business you run.
4. Implementing Social Media
There are many internet marketers who find themselves more successful than they could have imagined once they started to comprehend and use social media.
Not every marketer requires the same type of medium, so spending time in research will help you learn how and what choice is best for your business. Forums to blogs, social networking sites to podcasts and everything in between, can be used to put additional power behind the marketing techniques you use to get your business noticed.
Many of the available social media sites provide you with a profile page. This page can be considered the gateway not only to you personally but to your website. It’s the ideal spot for describing yourself, as well as what your online business or website has to offer. By simply providing a link to your website on a forum or comment at a blog, new unique visitors will be able find your website.
People succeed daily with their online businesses, with much of their profits being generated by some sort of social media marketing. By taking the time to create profiles depicting your professional side, and possibly even adding audio and video segments as well, you will have worldwide advertisements working for you. That’s every day, all day.
5. Have a goal for your Social Media Marketing
Social media can bring marketing success to your business in many ways. It’s important to know what exactly it is you’re trying to achieve before you start. This will enable you to track your success and tweak your various methods easier to work on once things have started rolling with your business.
There are many different aspects of marketing in which social media can assist. Whether you are aiming at driving traffic to your site, generating referrals and sales, or just plain having a way to communicate with both current and prospective clients, social media makes this entire process much easier to accomplish.
There are a few things to keep in mind, however. The simple goal of accumulating connections through social media outlets is not the only thing necessary for a successful business. Having lists of thousands of “followers” or “friends” in your various social media platforms may be nice, but it will not make you the successful businessperson you are striving for if nobody does anything but make small talk.
You want to establish a plan for not only obtaining these followers, but converting them into actual paying clientele. Another option would be to add them as associates or affiliates. It’s important to have some type of product or service each of these potential clients can relate to, in reference to their own needs. Yet blatant sales pitches could result in rapid loss of your followers or contacts. Try to find a “happy medium” per se, where you will be providing quality information or suggestions these contacts will find useful.
6. Post a profile photo on any social media network you frequent (including forums)
Use the same photo for all social media, if you can. It will build consistency and make your avatar instantly identified with you. People always feel warmer to someone whose face they know and recognize. Choose a photo that projects warmth, alertness, humor, and inquisitiveness – any of those good, positive emotions.
7. Social Media Follow-up
Be sure to keep track of things going on in your social media circles. For example, if someone is having a hardware problem, ask them a week later if they resolved it. If their daughter is sick, ask them a week later if she’s better. If you come across a piece of software or a link that is exactly what they were looking for two weeks ago, let them know! Be aware of your online friends’ concerns and problems – and be sure to congratulate them on achievements, too. If you have to take notes to keep track of things, do it. You’ll really ‘WOW’ people when you take just a few minutes to follow-up with them about something they mentioned a week or two ago!
Bonus Social Media Tip
Build a Relationship with Your Audience
You’ve probably heard it many times before but it bears repeating. People do business with those they know, like and trust. You have to take the time to build a relationship with your readers, subscribers, social media friends, etc. It will go a long way in getting you accepted. It also helps greatly to getting you to be the “go to” person in your niche or business.
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