Using Social Media For Business
I am a big believer of replicating success generated by others. That is how I try to run my business and I intend to follow this strategy as long as it is bringing me the results I want.
With social media is the same thing; but before we get into the discussion about how big names are using popular social channels we have to analyze the main purpose of using social media for business. I can tell in advance that a lot of people get this wrong and it alone can ruin their online reputation.
Being simplistic we can say that for internet marketers social media has 5 different goals:
- It can be used to build your brand.
- It is a tool to build relationships with people in your niche.
- It increases your chances of being discovered by influential leaders.
- It is an effective way to syndicate the content you are publishing.
- And finally it is a way to develop and strengthen a bond with potential customers. Once they like your content, they are more likely to buy from you.
Top Marketers and Social Media
Let’s start this discussion with web traffic. Top internet marketers have a different understanding about free traffic. And if you want to get where they are you have to change your mindset.
Get this:
“There is No Such Thing As FREE Traffic, Ever!”
It is a bold statement but let me explain you why!
I know some people crave getting alternatives to drive tons of “free traffic” to their websites but for me that is not what is happening. You must understand that none source of traffic is really free, because even if you are not paying money for the traffic, it consumes your time. And let me ask you something: do you have an understanding about how much is your time really worth?
If you spend one hour working with social media and that hour brings you 10 to 20 visitors that day and none of them took some action… well, sorry to inform you but you are wasting your time. And you know what… for me time equals money.
With that said let’s see a proper way to think about social media traffic which stands for syndication and it is number four on that previous list.
Are you a Social Media Spammer?
This is important because I am seeing so many spammers using social channels that sometimes you just have to analyze if you are not using similar methods.
To do this we have to compare what is common sense among leaders and top marketers getting good results with it. And here is a thing, when it comes to the content you deliver through social media; every serious marketer will tell you this: “just publish your best content”.
For me, creating great content is the foundation of my whole marketing strategy. Of course, when you are deeply involved with your area you will develop a better understanding and in any given time you can be considered an authority – if and when you are willing to study and learn from others. That is how I got started.
And think… the content only goes viral if it is really good. However, once you create this world-class content and use proper social channels to deliver it, this increases the odds of discoverability. It’s like word of mouth promotion via Facebook and Twitter for instance.
But if you are thinking that it will never happen to you, I can tell it happened to me within 30 days of blogging. My point is, you don’t need to be a well-known figure; you just need to have really good content! Focus on that!
Replicating Their Success - Using Social Media for Business
Now let’s talk about piggybacking and how to replicate success stories.
When using social media for business you can complicate things but if you want to get good results just follow some proven tactics. Don’t reinvent the wheel! You don’t need to.
To give you some examples let’s say you want more friends on Facebook, or even better, you want more fans to your fan page. What do you have to do?
Start doing some competitive research then choose 2 or 3 good competitors and find out what they are doing. You have to be able to answer some questions such as:
- What kind of content is being shared on Facebook?
- How often they are posting per week?
- Which content does receive more Likes?
- Is there any call to action on their page?
This is core competitive research! If you want to achieve better results start applying this. You don’t need to create revolutionary new concepts that no one has ever considered before and then try to get tons of likes, shares and different social signals from that outstanding content. No! And that is good!
You just have to see what works and start implementing their strategies into your own master plan. Keep things personal and friendly because we are talking about social media but don’t be afraid to use some bold examples to get the results you want.
That is what top marketers are doing and that is what you should do yourself.
I hope you get value from this article about using social media for business and I just want to say thanks for the opportunity of guest posting on Lisa’s blog and if you want to know more about how to bet backlinks using social media or some cool affiliate marketing strategies, please visit my blog and I will be happy to help you!
How are you using social media for business or for your blog today?
Thanks everyone!
See you next time
Felipe Kurpiel