It’s no secret that social media is the hottest new avenue for businesses to build brand and product awareness. What many businesses have yet to do is take the next step and utilize the direct marketing and relationship building power of the top social networks online. Whether you’re the CEO of a start-up or working in sales or marketing for a large public brand, social media can help build your brand and generate revenue.
Blogging
If your business doesn’t have a blog yet, you need to get it started ASAP. You may be asking yourself ‘What am I going to blog about?’ The answer is simple: Whatever your business does. If you sell shoes, then blog about shoes that are coming out, what shoes celebrities are wearing, and give users a chance to show their shoe collections through your blog. If you are a computer services company, then provide industry related resources, case studies, and tips on utilizing your technology. Blogging can help:
- Drive traffic back to your main website for sales leads
- Serve as a promotional avenue for your products or services
- Build relationships through encouraging discussion around blog posts
- Give your company a ‘personal’ presence
Facebook is the largest social network by far. With a population larger than the United States, there are millions of customers online every second that you can reach with your messaging. Facebook is really all about building a presence for your brand and engaging the masses. One of the most powerful uses for Facebook is encouraging friends to ‘like’ your business/product. When one person likes your page, their friends see it. Having an influential person on Facebook like your page can result in a great amount of exposure in a short period of time. Facebook for business usually involves:
- Building a Page for your business
- Linking your blog via the Notes app to help your blog content reach new viewers
- Running promotions, contests or deals through the page to generate fans (now known as ‘likes’)
- Joining relevant groups to find leads or leaving links to your blog, page, or website
Twitter is still exploding and that is mostly thanks to it’s ability to reach a large ‘click-happy’ audience in a short period of time. Twitter is all about providing short, relevant information and attaching links for those that care to read more. Twitter is a great place to not only provide information that generates inbound leads, but as a lead generation tool itself. Many twitter users are utilizing the vast resource of peers and professionals to ask questions about everything. From what products are best and which movie to see, to the best place to buy a laptop and which agency to use, questions are being asked. Some great ideas for using Twitter to generate new business:
- Utilize the Twitter search feature to find new leads looking for your products or services
- Use twitter to build relationships with other influential professionals on twitter in your industry
- Build a following for your blog by tweeting your posts and including a link in your profile
The world of LinkedIn holds a lot of potential for businesses and not only for those in B2B. B2C organizations can get great value out of LinkedIn as well. Whether you are looking to find potential customers, hire emloyees, or build yourself as an authority, LinkedIn can help. A few great ways to approach linked for your business:
- Groups can be used for a variety of reasons: joining in discussions, sending messages to members, or create your own group to have full access to all members
- Answer questions in your industry to become an expert and build credibility
- If you are in B2B, ask a connection for an introduction to a potential client which is much better than a cold call
Not all methods will work for all businesses just like all social networks may not be worth the time for all businesses. The best idea is to start of slow and only build a presence on those which you can actively maintain.
Have you succesfully generated new business through social media? Share your experiences in the comments.
