Every where you go whether at seminars, online webinars, reading ebooks, newsletters, reports and now all the online videos, it is all about social media marketing.
What about your offline life? Your local area, business groups, associates, family and friends should also be considered as part of your ‘social strategy’.
Done properly, you will reap the benefits of amassing huge awareness about you, your business, products or services. If not, then generally up-and-coming entrepreneurs and small online business owners become frustrated and disappointed. This creates the large percentage of online businesses failing within a 6 month to 1 year time frame.
So what can you do to have the best social media strategies work for you?
The key is to be consistent with all of your business marketing which includes social media and offline marketing strategies as well.
Here is my Top 10 List of Social Media Strategies:
1) Email Signature - Adding a personalized signature to your emails is a great way to share your social profiles and look professional at the same time. I enjoy using WiseStamp.com Here is an example:
2) Website or Blog - A well written About Me page that provides information to your visitors on how your site will benefit them. Adding your social profiles with icons or links along with an opt-in form is key.
3) Social Share Buttons - Make certain you provide social share buttons on your site or blog, posts, articles or any other media to encourage your visitors to engage and share your information.
4) Business Cards - Some think the business card is becoming extinct. With the new QR codes, start handing out your cards again! Anyone with a smart phone, can scan your QR code and be taken directly to your site or a welcome video! Of course, be sure to add your site URL and some of your social sites for those not able to access the QR code.
Here is my QR Code!
5) Your Advertising - Newspapers, yellow pages, free ads, commercials – Have you noticed lately how all the big companies are now boasting their Twitter and Facebook, even YouTube, social icons when they advertise. Always include yours too!
6) Marketing Pieces - Brochures, catalogs, fliers, just about any promotional gift, mugs, pens and more! – include your site URL and whenever you can, include those social icons. Don’t forget that QR code!
7) Contests - This is a great avenue to bring visitors to your site or to your events. In doing so, be sure whatever they fill out and keep to receive their prize, if they win, that you are including your social profile icons and site address.
8) Events - Handouts, banners, signs – all can include your site URL and social media icons.
9) Mobile Phone Networks - Texting out specials, announcements or other information about your business, include a link or mention you can always find more information by visiting your site or direct them to a welcome video.
10) Talk About It - At the grocery store, bank, cleaners, post office, just about anywhere – there are so many places you frequent that you should spark a conversation, ask a few questions and hand them that business card! So practice your elevator speech and remember not to make it too long, but interesting enough to get their attention!
The big message is to be consistent with your strategies. Utilize all of them to obtain the best return and draw the biggest attention. Take advantage of the social media platforms utilizing strategies that work best for you and your business.
And don’t forgot those social buttons, links or icons whenever you are marketing your business!
Your turn … what social media strategies are working for you? Share other strategies to add to my list!
Make it a successful and profitable day!
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Nice. These 10 strategies keep us ahead from all other competitors.
Social Media has been growing rapidly and it is our goodness to grab the attention of all people towards us from the starting. So for it, these strategies will be very useful to build our online band and reputation.
Thanks for sharing this nice tips.
Shathyan Raja recently posted..Price of Samsung Galaxy S 4 in US, UK and India
Really Great Information! Thank you for sharing!!
Glad you found me Doc! Appreciate your comments and hope you will visit again real soon. Have an awesome day.
Lynn Brown recently posted..The Top 3 Reasons Small Business Owners Should Be On LinkedIn
I found your article and started reading. You must be truly dedicated to your writing to be able to keep this topic interesting.Thanks lot of shearing your great post .
Have nice day .
Glad you enjoyed the article and thank you for stopping by today.
Lynn Brown recently posted..How to Build Up Your LinkedIn Connections
Oh sorry about that. I will look to see what I can do to get that changed. Appreciate you visiting!
Nice post, Lynn. I share your love for “blended marketing” for most small businesses. The QR code has really become a fixture, too. I have a “marketing Jedi” friend who recently posted something great on that very issue. Her name is Angie Schottmuller and her post on QR codes was the silver medal winner in the Unbounce Conversion Fest 2011. You can see hers and other great posts (including mine) here: http://unbounce.com/social-media/the-secret-sauce-behind-social-blog-post-promotion/ (BTW: I am not getting paid to promote this site, just a great group of posts you and your readers will enjoy).
Great minds think alike! lol Appreciate the input on the QR codes and sharing the link to the business articles. I did visit and there is a lot of good information as you mention. Please feel free to come back anytime to share your insight, thoughts and comments!
Great list, Lynn. I do like QR Codes and they are great for events. Especially if you are exhibiting or are hosting your own workshop. The one thing that I overlooked when I first created my QR code is that my site wasn’t optimized for the mobile web. Oops. One goes with the other, although it’s easy to overlook.
That is a great idea Daphne. And yes, now that more and more of us are
going to mobile marketing and more and more peole have smart phones, now it
is time to make sure our sites are mobile ready. Really appreciat you
sharing your thoughts on this.
Any tips, Daphne, for getting your site mobile-optimized? Thanks!
Thank you for the tip! Mobile marketing is huge and I have been learning more about how we will need to focus on the way our sites look on mobile devices.
So I really appreciate you stopping by today and offering this really great information. Will take a look at the theme you recommend and it will be helpful to others as well.
Do hope you will come back again soon and share your business insight.
Lynn,
Some great tips here. So many of these really come down to Branding. Getting that strong image out there. Something about -you- or -yoursite- that resonates with the people who stumble across it.
Your tips for getting that “word” out there are excellent. So many people get caught up in the “new technique” of social media that they never really think of how powerful it can be to actually -combine- it with old marketing techniques like business cards, contests, events, brochures etc. etc.
Great stuff!
-Steve
Appreciate the kind review and glad you found the tips to be helpful. I
agree with you Steve, getting the ‘word’ out is important and doesn’t always
have to be done through online social media. Word of mouth and then asking
for referrals has always been successful for me. Really do appreciate you
stopping in and offering your comments and great advice. I do hope you
will come back and visit again soon.
Hey Lynn,
Powerful compilation of strategies here. The one I have to look into is the QR Codes. I’m always glad to see a small business advisor who has her feet planted as deeply in the offline business world as the online one. For me, paying attention to the bread-and-butter (offline) is as important as the bits-and-bytes. Good stuff, Lynn!
Thanks Vernessa! I couldn’t agree more and enjoy your analogy of ‘paying attention to the bread-and-butter (offline) is as important as the bits-and-bytes.”
Glad that you are going to look into the QR codes. There seems to be unlimited ideas of how this little code can be used in marketing your business. I will be sure to share more on this as I learn, and I invite you Vernessa to share what you learn too. Glad you stopped by!
Hey Lynn,
Powerful compilation of strategies here. The one I have to look into is the QR Codes. I’m always glad to see a small business advisor who has her feet planted as deeply in the offline business world as the online one. For me, paying attention to the bread-and-butter (offline) is as important as the bits-and-bytes. Good stuff, Lynn!
Hi Lynn,
Great tips! I like the idea of contests and wondering what types of contests have you done in the past and which ones are most effective. For example, I want to have a contests to get more Likes on my FB Page but I am not sure how to run the contest so that it’s far. If I were to pick one winner, how would I randomly pick the person?
I would really appreciate some insights on this!
Many thanks,
Diana
Thanks Diana appreciate your thoughts. I can tell you that I used contests
for my charm jewelry biz. My opt in at the top of my website and a separate
page to opt in was to subscribe and learn more about new charm jewelry
designs AND a chance to win a free charm. A winner will be chosen every
month. I created a lot of interest and a lot of traffic. It not only
helped to build my list, but it also generated and increased my sales.
I would be carefully having any contests on Facebook. I’ve heard that they
have restrictions on that.
Hope this gives you an idea of how you could come up with a contest for your
biz. Mayber there are others that have ideas to share?
Hi Diana,
I just want to back up what Lynn mentioned to you regarding Facebook and “contests”. It’s getting to the point now where Facebook has made some very stringent rules with threats to shut down your account if you’re in breech. Ouch. I believe they have “paid” options for users who want to run a contest through Facebook. And they definitely frown upon anyone holding a contest to get “Likes” for their fan/biz page. The good old days on FB are gone! It’s a whole new ball game now.
Hi Lynn,
Excellent tips.
Really noting how the Big Boys are using social media to spread their corporate influence. I’m seeing this more and more on my trip throughout Asia, and many of these companies aren’t really big time, but they still tout their twitter account and Facebook Fan Pages.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Thanks Ryan! Appreciate you stopping in and your comments about the ‘Big
Boys’ – I too have been noticing how they are all chiming in with all the
social media icons, links and buttons. It is also nice to get your
perspective now that you are over in Thailand. Keep us posted!
I just shared and tweeted this post Lynn, as I am a person that believes we should all be combining our offline and online marketing as a joint process. Item 6 – “Marketing Pieces” – reminds me of the ways we all used to market. Sometimes I think people forget about the things that used to work very effectively; as most people now focus online.
Thanks for the reminders and the link to “WiseStamp.com” – I took the quick tour, I think I’ll be adding this one to my marketing arsenal.
Oh I agree with you Corey. Our offline marketing can be just as effective
and should still be included in our marketing plans. Social media sure has
put more focus to online marketing as it is easy and very cost effective,
but combining the two can really explode your business and take you to the
next level.
I really appreciate you sharing this post and happy to hear it was helpful
and provided some ideas. I always enjoy you stopping in and offering your
thoughts and advice!
I read this twice and thought about what I could possibly add to such a concise post. One thing that came to mind was the importance of having a company name tag made with your logo and your full name and title for additional branding and identification. Thanks for the other reminders as well.
Thanks Veronica! You are so right, anything like company logo or banners
are another great way to brand and give indentification to your company. I
just know there are probably lots more ideas out there and glad you stopped
by to offer yours!