The difference between a website with no sales and visits and a website that generates large number of traffic and profit lies in marketing and promotion.
There are numerous ways to market your business but as we all know, the internet is widely used and it becomes more and more popular by the day, therefore social media is considered as one, if not the most effective way of marketing your business. The importance of a successfully managed & established website plays a really great part in making any kind of business successful and profitable. Studies show that the internet is the first place where people go to when searching for a company, product, service, etc. So if potential clients or prospects search for businesses for categories you should be under but your website is nowhere to be found, you simply lost a great number of customers or clients which could have been converted to sales. The internet also allows consumers to more carefully consider their purchases by assessing & comparing industry competitors. But, even the most beautifully, strategically, and intelligently designed web site will not make a difference if no one can find it & no one ever heard of it.
Below are steps you should take to start your Social Media marketing:
(Assuming that you already have a website)
- You Need to Have a Blog – Your blogs should be interactive, always allow visitors to leave comments so there is going to be communication. Blogs are mostly textual, some focus on photographs & videos. Blogs should be informative and fun at the same time. You can explain and talk about the real estate statistics and/or talk about the best restaurants, coffee shops, parks, etc. in a certain neighborhood.
- Post Blogs Regularly and Put Them on Various Social Media Sites – You can sign up for sites like Onlywire, Posterous and HootSuite. Set up your accounts, just copy and paste the link to your blog and it will instantly be published on all of your social media accounts in just one click.
- Facebook Fan Pages & Groups – I think I no longer need to say anything about how many people use facebook everyday. This is certainly one of the most powerful methods of marketing that is still growing as we speak. Simply by joining facebook you can create fan pages.You may even invite fans that are already a fan base to similar likes in the area or industry and that means instant prospects! Just don’t send requests to more than 10 people a day. More than 10 friend requests sent in a day is going to get Facebook upset. Join the groups but don’t sell. Just participate in the conversations at first and engage in common topics of the groups & you will just start seeing friend requests.
- Ask Questions – Though you might already know the answers, ask them anyway. That’s the easiest way to get a response, ask a question. It’s a great way for market research too, you can learn a great deal about the people you communicate with and can shape your future marketing steps. To add, you should make your posts interesting like adding pictures or videos to them, you are sure to increase fan or friend engagement.
- Launch Contests & Campaigns – The most successful Facebook fan pages are those that implement campaigns and contests. From trivia contests to photo contests. Just be creative and come up with clever campaign ideas that will work for your brand and sure enough you will get people’s attention.
One of the great things about social media is how it allows brands to really come to life & give a “personal touch” to people & have that open communication which is very important.
