How To Get Started With Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing can very well fall under the category of “information overload.” There are literally hundreds of ways to approach this type of marketing, as well as innumerable place to socially interact with others online. It is for this reason that many people feel intimidated by the whole idea using the excuse that they have no time to chat idly with others online.
The popularity of social media websites can be attributed to one thing: people love meeting other people; they like interacting with their friends, and they like to meet new people. Unfortunately, in our busy lives, we spend most of our time working or recuperating from work. However, with the advent of websites where people can meet, people can satisfy their need to socialize simply by logging onto a social media website. Moreover, they not only meet interesting people, but they also meet people from diverse interests and backgrounds from all over the world.
Here, then, are 4 simple ways to get started on social media, using it not only to connect with new people but also inform them about your business. When people come to know, like, and trust you, they will also choose your business over that of a stranger when they need what you’re offering.
1. Blogging
A blog can be either a personal blog or a company blog, and both are popular and a way to build your business. Although blogs are not as popular as social networks, they provide a platform for those you meet on social networks to get to know you better and understand your business.
Steps to creating a blog:
- Decide on what you would like to blog about on a regular basis. It’s important that you find a theme you enjoy writing about rather than something that you think will make you more money because your enthusiasm and expertise will show through in your blog posts.
- Create a self-hosted blog over a blogging website like WordPress.com or Blogger.com. With your own self-hosted website, you not only build up your credibility as a serious blogger, but you also have total control of the content.
- Choose a domain name. This can be either your own name or the keyword-rich name of the niche you wish to blog about.
- Either set up your own blog or hire someone to do it for you.
- Create a schedule on what you would like to blog about and begin blogging regularly.
2. Create a Facebook account.
In April 2012, Facebook recorded receiving 900 million daily visitors. This is a huge opportunity for you to network with others about mutual interests. Be friendly and informal, rather than pitching your products routinely on Facebook. In fact, this rule of thumb, applies to all other social media websites that you join.
3. Create a Twitter account.
Posting comments twice a day on Twitter, a micro-blogging platform, has been shown in various marketing tests to build your brand quickly. You can post on anything you like, from what blog post you did today to a topic you feel strongly about.
4. Create a LinkedIn account.
Unlike Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn is geared to helping business professionals interact. With an estimated 50 million users who come from more than 200 nations, you will be able to connect with a few useful people interested in your business as well as your ideas about business.
Summary
Although this is a very simple plan, it is highly effective. Once you have developed a solid foundation in social media marketing, you are, of course, free to expand this plan.
What Are QR Codes? And How They Work To Get You Traffic
Right today I’m covering something that is fairly new but growing all the time, you need to be aware of this and trying to put into practice in your campaigns.
QR codes are the modern-day version of the bar code. These are blocky black and white patterns with tons of data encoded on them. They’re encoded with your URL so that when you scan one with a smartphone or other mobile device, it sends the browser straight to the website.
Imagine this – you’ve got a print advertisement telling people to check out your website. They have to go to a computer, type in the URL, and hit click before they can see it. With a QR code, all they do is scan it and they’re there.
Plus, you can use them for more than just getting people to your website. You can embed the URL of your Facebook Like button onto the code so that with one quick scan, they Like you. You can also embed it with a URL that instantly subscribes them to your list. See how cool this is?
How to Use QR Codes
The great thing about QR codes is that you can put them anywhere. There have been some famous marketing campaigns already where companies have plastered QR codes all over their merchandise to get people to their websites. You can put them on brochures, business cards, t-shirts, fliers, bus stops, kiosks, signs and more. Stamps and stickers of your QR code can be made and you can even put them on websites.
You can embed them with any URL you like. In addition to the examples above, you can send people to your Facebook fan page or Twitter profile, your YouTube channel or a specific video, your blog, your profile on any site, your landing page or absolutely anywhere else you’d like them to go.
Getting Your Own Code
You’re probably wondering how much this awesome new technology is going to run you. Well, here’s another surprise. You can make as many QR codes as you’d like to for free. This is a really simple technology and it doesn’t take much to embed one with a URL.
There are websites that create your code for you. These include:
- Kaywa – reader.kaywa.com/
- Qurify – www.qurify.com
- QRMobilize – qrmobilize.com
- GoQRme – goqr.me
- Google’s URL Shortener – goo.gl
And these are just a few of them. They give you an instant code that you can copy and paste, or save and print out. You can make one for each of your URLs and plaster them everywhere.
One quick word of warning, though – You probably want to go out right now and start a massive campaign with your QR codes. But before you get started, make sure you’ve got a good purpose in mind. In other words, what do you want people to do when they scan that code? Make sure you’ve got it well thought out before you start investing your time in putting your codes everywhere.
Toby Russell, Internet Marketer, Publisher & Property Investor offers tried and tested methods to help you succeed on line. Get my FREE MP3 Download Interview With Top Internet Marketer & FREE 94 page Free Special Report –
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