Tuesday, August 2, 2011

How to Successfully Leverage Social Media

How to Successfully Leverage Social Media

Do you want to direct traffic to your website, market your business, and increase your sales? Twenty years ago, if you wanted to enhance your business, you would use newspaper ads, television ads, or radio ads. Today, if you are not using social media to market your business, you are already 5 steps behind your competitors. Let's learn how to successfully leverage social media to increase your business potential.
The first thing you will need to do when learning how to successfully leverage social media is to create one (or several) social media pages for your business. There are several different social media sites out there and the more you use the more successful you will be. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube are today's top social media resources that will allow you to gain exposure online.
Once you have created your account, you must create and share compelling content. If you want to attract people to your page, you will need to engage your audience. If you want to engage your audience, you will need to know what they are interested in and how your product can benefit them. Include a variety of interesting and informative information on your social media page using articles, blogs, videos, statistics, pictures, and more.

In attracting the interest of your target audience, providing them with interesting and informative information is not enough. You must also provide them with an incentive to purchase your product or service. Use your social media website to promote special offers or sales.
When learning how to successfully leverage social media, it is important to remember that one of your main goals is to direct traffic to your business website. To do this, include links within your social media page. You don't need to include links with every post, but be sure that they are easily visible and accessible.
If you want to learn how to successfully leverage social media, it is also important that you keep your audience engaged and wanting to return. Special offers are one way to do this, but keeping your information up to date is also useful. Engage your audience. Encourage them to ask questions and respond to them in a timely manner. The key to maintaining previous customers is building rapport and developing trust. This can all be done through proper communication.
Finally, in learning how to successfully leverage social media to build your business, it is also important that you cross-reference your social media profiles. Post links to your social media accounts in your emails, connect your blog to your social media sites, add share buttons, connect your LinkedIn page to your Twitter page, and so on.
In today's society, almost everyone has their own social media webpage. If you are not using social media to promote your business, you are missing out a great opportunity to market your business where the people are. Create several social media websites, develop interesting content, post links to your website, communicate with your clients, and cross-reference your social media sites. By using social media to promote your business, you will soon see a dramatic increase in your business sales!

Source:
http://www.articlesbase.com/networking-articles/how-to-successfully-leverage-social-media-5086163.html