5 Great Social Media Marketing Ideas You Should Read

You can base the success of your online reputation on various factors. These may include a high PageRank on Google, a top spot in search engine result pages (SERPs), quality traffic, and high conversion rate.

But do you know that joining online communities can increase your popularity and brand image?

So, how can networking sites like Facebook, Google+, and Twitter help boost your business

This happens when you are able to obtain the following:

• Several followers on Twitter or fans on Facebook
• Plenty of “Shares”, “Likes”, and comments from the users
• High site traffic from your profile or fan pages

But, perhaps, the biggest help comes in the form of high ranking in SERPs.

Then again, you have to know that you will not reap such benefits unless you make social media work to your advantage.

With that said, how exactly can you maximise your efforts?

If you are not sure, let these ideas help you.

#1 Tweet  

Currently, Twitter is flooded with messages promoting company names, as well as products and services, with marketers hoping to turn their posts into trending topics.

While tweeting incessantly is ok, doing this can result to “spamming”. What is more, many tweets (Twitter users) will consider it annoying. If you keep at it, they might just block or report your activities as spam.

So what should you do? Well, you can take note of these important tips.

• Post at least 1-3 tweets every day, or with an interval of 1-2 hours if you frequently send messages in one day for around 3-4 times each week.
• Tackle niche-relevant and interesting information to pique the users’ interest.

See Also : post your Twitter tweets directly to Facebook

 #2 Stay updated

 If you want your followers, fans, and circles to remember your business or brand, update your profile page regularly. Upload images and videos or post messages about the following:

• Latest happenings
• New offers
• Upcoming events
• Special deals

Give your target groups something new to keep them engaged.

 #3 Connect

 If you are going to tag someone, choose the biggest names in your industry. You can comment on their blog articles or mention them in your status updates or write-ups.

When you include established and authoritative people in your social activities, it will not be long before they bring you in their circle too. When this happens, you can widen your company’s exposure.

#4 Retain their focus on you

 Try not logging on to your account for days and you will notice a significant loss of members. This applies mostly to Twitter, wherein the amount of your followers dwindles, goes up, and then, decreases again.

See Also : What to do and What not to do While using Twitter for your Blog

So how do you keep them close?

Simple, just be accessible and interact with the other users. Whenever people mention and tag you or comment on your blog, never fail to send a reply. Remember, you are not just promoting your company; you are also building a network with your target customers.

#5 Keep them engaged

You can encourage engagement through these methods.

• Give out hints of sales
• Offer discounts and coupon giveaways
• Set up online competitions
• Come up with polls and surveys
• Ask for feedback

Nothing keeps the people more engrossed than the unknown because it will have them craving for more. You can stir excitement among your target customers by posting updates about “major markdowns” or “upcoming discounts”. By doing so, you can grab their interest and make them stay glued to your profile pages. Just make good on your promises though, or else you will end up losing most of the users’ trust.

Conclusion

These ideas do not require too much effort and time. To top it off, they can be very effective, especially with the combination of other search engine marketing strategies.

So, if you wish to build a credible business image and reputation online, jump on the social bandwagon.

About the Author: Emma Tomlinson is the Head of Retail at Smart Traffic, which is an SEO Bristol company listed at the Top 10 of the Microsoft Tech Track 100 for 2011.