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So you are ready to make the leap to social media. My first question is "Why have you waited so long in the first place?" My second question is "How are you going to develop your game plan? If you have a limited budget, chances are
you are going to go after what is free out there over paying for a consultant or paying for various apps or on-line ads. Free is not so bad. There are a lot of free platforms that can work to help get your brand out. Paying for enhancing your brand is obviously better. Let me briefly go over the pros and cons of both and you can decide for yourself based on your needs and your budget. Regardless of what you decide, just making the jump to using social media is a smart choice in this digital age we now live in. Free Social Media Marketing Your business exists because you made it happen. You probably built your customer base by having good products or services so your first happy customer told someone else thus word of mouth got you started and perhaps is still working for you. This coincides with repeat business. Your branding that you worked hard to build can be placed for free on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn to start. These are all free. While it will take time intense monitoring of your sites to start, soon, you will build followers if you do it right. Create promotions, interaction with your customers, attach links via your website or email or even on your invoices. The bottom line is get your brand out. Paying for Social Media Marketing While we all like free, the other side of social media marketing is paying for related services, apps, and on-line advertising is going to get you better results most of the time. While you may have a free Facebook site, you can do promotions, use their per click ads or tap into Google ads top romote your business. I use Woobox which offers a paid service to promote your business as does another company that integrates with your Facebook called Wildfire. LinkedIn also offers paid ads. Finally , if you have a website (technically not a social media platform) Use the social media platforms you have made to link to your website or vice-versa. Create the interest and make one big circle so everything interconnects! Your on-line ads creates leads for you, especially if your website deals in e-commerce. Good luck and I hope these tips were of value to you. Most small businesses are budget minded when it comes to promoting or
marketing their business. The internet today is a must if you want any kind of exposure since we are a digital or electronic society. I put together some tips that hopefully will help you get your brand out with little or no investment on your part. Some may not be for everybody, but at the very least experiment with them and see what works best for you. 1.Website. When is the last time you took a hard look at your website? (You better at least have one) Re-evaluate your website and make sure it is promoting your brand and the content reflects your products or services. 2. Analytics. Embracing analytics on that website will help you measure how well your site is doing. Data can help you improve areas you are trying to target. Google Analytics is free to use and is easy to embed on your site. 3. Directories. I have mixed feelings about this as many now consider directories "Old School". Having said that, again Google offers the Local business Center, Yellow Pages has gone digital and has a site, and Yahoo offers listings as well. Using analytics to boost your positioning is the best way to have your businesss move up in search engines over directories but if a person is searching for a particular product or service and they are actually using a directory, then by all means having your name that directory is a logical and smart idea. 4. Blogging. Promote your talents and your business by blogging. Start right here and create a Word Press site. You are good at what you do or you would not be in business right? Tell others about what you do and express your opinion on topics relevant of your business. Your business link is always attached to your blog site so if people want to know more about you, they will follow. 5. Finish Line. You are out to win the race. Have goals in mind and consider a campaign a race that you want to win. Always be first to cross that line. Be a winner! 6. Competition. Check out what your competition is doing by visiting their websites or even their place of business in person if you can. Watch for their ads, type in search engines what you do and see who comes up at the top of the list. If you don't and they do, why? 7. Web Videos. Today, videos are much simpler to shoot and produce. You don't have to be a Hollywood director to make a simple video about your business. You don't want to post garbage so if you know someone who can make a decent video about your business then use them to create a polished product for you. Once it is done, put it on your website or create a YouTube account . 8. Keywords. This follows analytics but your website's title is important to gaining tracking hits. Your business title should be unique and it should go hand in hand with what you do. Google has a page to help you with the understanding of keywords. Google Toolbox. Next time you check your website, look in the browser header and give yourself a health check. What does it say up there? Does it fit on what your website describes? If it does not, think about revamping your header to fit more what you do for your business. I hope these tips have helped you with your internet branding. If you have any questions, feel free to click on my last tab on my website here and email me. I will do my best to gtve you an answer back as soon as possible. |
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