Social Networking Marketing

Promoting your Business Through Social Networking and Marketing

Free accounts for an online presence, enhanced search engine optimization, and an array of promotional opportunities. Below you’ll information about the most widely-used social media and networking tools for business marketing, public relations, and advertising. However, remember the golden rule about social networking: Participate in the same social sites used by your customers and prospects, and always make sure what you share has value.

LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com)

• Popular for professional business networking
• Ability to post information about your company and build business relationships
• Opportunities to participate in Groups and establish yourself and your company as experts

Facebook (www.facebook.com)

• Used to build a following of customer “fans”
• One of the most attractive business features is targeted advertising opportunities

Twitter (www.twitter.com)

• Ability to send very short messages to keep audiences who choose to follow you updated

MySpace (www.myspace.com)

• Large user base provides good advertising opportunities
• Good for targeting younger and trendier consumers and audiences

Flickr (www.flickr.com)

• Gives businesses the ability to manage graphics and photos, which can be shared both internally and externally

YouTube (www.youtube.com)

• Businesses can publish training videos, product demos, and promotions online

Blogs (i.e. Wordpress, Blogspot, Blogger, etc.)

• Easy to set up and use
• Used by some businesses as their primary web presence
• Interactive nature gives readers the ability to "comment" and "share" on posts

Social Media Tracking (Online Brand Monitoring)

Even if you don’t have the time or interest for online social media marketing, you can easily track what others are saying about your company and your competitors. The following tools are just a few of the free or low cost options available for brand management and competitive intelligence:

Twazzup (www.twazzup.com)

• Gathers and presents mentions of your brand on Twitter

Trackur (www.trackur.com)

• Searches the entire web for your keyword/brand and lets you export search results to an Excel spreadsheet
• Free accounts for single keywords
• Paid subscriptions for more extensive monitoring and analysis

SocialMention (www.socialmention.com)

• Similar to Trackur, and lets you set up email alerts
• Breaks down search results by where mentioned (i.e. blog posts, images, videos, news)
• Reports when someone has saved a link from your web site/blog to Delicious or shared it on StumbleUpon

Addictomatic (www.addictomatic.com)

• Provides one easy-to-read page with all online mentions of your keyword or brand
• Shows images from Flickr, videos from YouTube, posts shared on Digg and more

Need help developing and managing your social media marketing initiatives? Contact me today for a complimentary meeting to evaluate your needs.