If you’re starting out what can you do to create a winning social media marketing plan? It’s now widely recognised that social media is an integral part of internet marketing and can deliver excellent results. It is a powerful tool for networking and building a brand presence but need to be approached in an effective way so that your business is viewed as credible. Here are some tips to start you off:
1. Social Bookmarking – This is great way to encourage more people to read your content and ultimately improve your position in the SERPs. Bookmarking sites like Propeller or Digg can be used to highlight a link to your content whether it’s a blog, article or video. This approach has instant results and is well worth the time.
2. Forums – This is another free social media marketing tactic. By taking part in social media discussion forums you can offer value to your audience through information, links and advice whilst attracting important links back to the site.
3. Social networking – the likes of Facebook and Twitter have become important ways of promoting businesses. They are important platforms that should be included in any internet marketing strategy. They offer some great promotional tools and a ready-made community to build connections. Through interaction with your followers you can build rapport anf engage with your customers. It offers a unique opportunity to build relationships with your audience and give you direct contact. However be careful not to appear a nuisance. There is a fine line between great interaction and being seen to spam links.
4. Keyword research – you may initially wonder what has this got to do with SMM? No matter what form of internet marketing you choose you must always ensure that you combine it with your long tail keywords. Include them in your posts as this will make sure that search engines can find the content and will improve your rankings. When looking at free social media marketing this is one area that you can’t afford to scrimp. There are some free word tracker tools out there but it pays to get a professional agency to help provide you with the lists of keywords and analysis that you will need to carry out effective web marketing. This is one way of ensuring you have a robust platform upon which to build your other online marketing tactics. It will give you the lead on your competitors and increase your chances of success significantly.
5. Becoming a social media expert – building up knowledge of social media marketing techniques takes time and you need to build a considered strategy. It makes sense to seek expert help or to educate yourself fully on the many aspects of SMM. It is a fantastic medium for building your online reputation, engaging with customers and showing your target market that you care. Ultimately all the knowledge in the world won’t attract sales. People buy into companies that they trust and feel they have a connection to and social media is the perfect medium for enabling this to happen.
At www.searchengineoptimization.co.uk we offer a wide range of SMM expertise.
