5 Social Media Tips for Online Marketing

Social media is certainly not a fad. Although, when sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others first emerged as part of Web 2.0, there were plenty of skeptics.

If you run an online business, chances are your customers are active on social networks regardless of their gender, age, or economic status. In fact, according to the statistics from social media monitoring site Pingdom:

• 47% males and 53% females use social network sites
• 61% of Facebook users are middle-aged or older
• The average age of social networking users is 37
• 18- to 24-year-olds don’t dominate any particular social networking site

If you aren’t learning which social networking channels your customers spend their time at, you’re probably missing out on increasing your customer base through online word of mouth. Leverage these 5 social media marketing tips to get the most out of your online marketing.

1. Go Where You’ll Find Your Customers

Digital and social media marketing offer endless options. From Facebook to LinkedIn to Twitter to YouTube, there are an endless number social networking channels available that your business can leverage. The key to winning social media online marketing is to choose the right channels so you reach customers.

You can learn where your customers gather by:

• Asking them. While it sounds simple, it’s often overlooked. Just send out a formal survey to customers or do an informal polling on your website, which can provide a wealth of knowledge.
• Monitoring social sites. There are a number of free tools such as Trackur to learn how and where customers are talking about your competitors, your brand, or your target keywords. For There are also paid programs that are more robust.
• Leveraging the stats. When it comes to stats some sites like Facebook are transparent or you can leverage third-party research.
• Review job postings, backlinks, keyword rankings of competitors, and news announcements regularly to get a quick look into your online marketing health.

2. Use Social Media to Promote Exclusive Offers

In order for your online business to build followers on the social channel you choose, you must entice customers with something they aren’t able to get anywhere else. Offer an exclusive item to social media followers or fans, such as a weekly coupon. You might also offer “breaking news” that they can’t find somewhere else.

3. Monitor What Your Competitors Are Doing

Whether your online business is new to social media marketing, or you just want to take it up a notch, competitive intelligence can be very helpful. Conduct a competitive audit of your top five competitors on the social web and then answer the following questions.

• What social sites are they active on?
• What type of content do they publish?
• How many followers/views/fans do they have on their site?
• How do they promote their products, events, or programs using social media?

4. Don’t Just Promote Products/Services

The main focus of your online site is to sell products, but your social media marketing strategy should include a wide range of strategies that go beyond promotional offerings. Here are a few ideas to try incorporation into your social media marketing.

• Share news stories or messages from external sources
• Create a blog on your site then feed your blog content to your social media accounts
• Ask questions, poll your customers, or participate in discussions via social media
• Post pictures from company events or videos especially when the CEO speaks

5. Sell Products Through Social Networks

Many online sites use social channels to make it easier for customers to purchase their products. For example, 1-800-Flowers was the first ecommerce site to launch a Facebook store, which allowed customers to browse and purchase its products directly through Facebook.

The five ideas are a good start when it comes to successful online social media marketing. How do you