In recent articles we've explored the benefit of balancing our marketing elements for an effective campaign. We've also continued to look at the intricacies within each element to make sure we don't fall out of balance.
Social media marketing, when executed properly, can be a great supplement to other marketing elements. We want to make sure we understand a few of the things to look out for so we don't alienate our fans and drive more away than to purchase.
Element 3: SOCIAL MEDIA
There is a lot of activity and discussion around social media marketing and it seems that more and more organizations are getting involved.
To simplify things a bit think of social media as a community of followers first, a method of content distribution second. Social media platforms are a terrific outlet for the content you're producing and publishing on your website. You are publishing content regularly right?
Social media relates to inbound marketing in providing additional sources to distribute your content. So first you write a blog post about a great new service you provide. Then you publish it to your blog. Now you want people to read it, afterall you worked hard on it and there is definitely value to your customers and prospective customers alike. Enter social media.
Start by tweeting the article, creating snappy headlines that prompt people to read your content. If fans find it interesting they will share it, exposing your content to a previously unreached demographic. Add hashtags for the core service so it can get found. Respond to comments and retweet from your personal account and others. This will get the word out there and prompt people to click/view/read.
Now let's work in some other channels, Google +, Facebook, and Linked in all have a similar wall feature to them. When you post it hits everyone's wall. Word of caution here, you shouldn't post to your wall on these accounts too frequently, save your best and most interesting content for these formats. Twitter is different, go ahead and bomb away with tweets about your post.
In your google/facebook/linked content examples make sure you're selecting a good image, including the link, and giving people a short preview about what's in the article. You'll be doing good if you get shares, likes, +1s, etc. For an added bonus post your article to LinkedIn groups you belong to in the related industries. This will send to all members of the group and should get more eyes on your article instantly.
As you can see there are many ways you can utilize social media as a method of content distribution. If you're able to mix into your current efforts to build and engage your community a degree of this type of content posts you'll have even better success with engagement and much improved website traffic.
There is no better way to grow your website traffic and generate inbound marketing leads than by maximizing the effectiveness of your blog via social media. If you'd like to learn more we highly suggest you download our social media ebook. It's free and informative, why wouldn't you??