Social Media Optimization

Promoting your business organically using Social Networking sites is called Social Media Optimization.

Widely used Social Media websites are:

  1. Facebook: Create a Facebook page and promote your product via post, image, video, and group.
  2. Twitter: you can promote your business via tweets with the limitation of 140 characters.
  3. Instagram: Instagram is an easy-to-use mobile application that lets you capture and edit photos or videos on your tablet computer or smart phone. You can then share your creations on Instagram.
  4. LinkedIn: to connect with professional peoples.
  5. Pinterest
  6. Google+
  7. YouTube
  8. Tumblr: Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking website that sits somewhere between twitter and a traditional blog. It was founded by David Karp in 2007 and owned by Yahoo since 2013. There are no length restrictions on Tumblr posts, but the culture of the site encourages short updates, and many users stick to this format. The major feature that makes Tumblr stand out is that it divides up posts by type: Text, Photo, Quote, Link, Chat, Audio, and Video. You can customize everything, from colors to your theme's.
  9. Flickr: online photo management and sharing application
  10. Myspace
  11. BlogSpot

Facebook tops the list of social media strategy

Facebook has 1.28 billion active users and is currently the largest social network - that adds up to a lot of potential brand exposure.

Features of Facebook are:

  1. Cost effective
  2. Reach target audience
  3. Best for local business
  4. Many options to do marketing

Resources on Facebook:

  1. Facebook groups
  2. Facebook page
  3. Facebook sharing

Facebook Importance:

  1. FB user spends 55 mins/day
  2. Fb user have 130 friends
  3. Develop a loyal fan base
  4. Customer interaction
  5. Viral promotion
  6. Facebook ads


Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character message called 'tweets'. As a Twitter user, you select which other people you wish to follow; when you follow someone, their tweets show up in a list known as your Twitter stream.

Anyone who chooses to follow you will see your tweets in their stream. It is not necessary to follow everyone who follows you, and not everyone you choose to follow will follow you back.

Twitter Analytics:

  1. Analysis your twitter account with Twitter Analytics and grab more Audience.
  2. Get monthly reports
  3. Get to know more about your followers
  4. See which content engage your audience.
  5. Determine if your Twitter Ads are worth the Money.

Conversations on Twitter are just like the face-to-face encounters you have with customers each day. Convincing content will help you attract new followers and keep them engaged over time, building awareness of your brand.



Points to Note

If you want real success and want to build your brand on Twitter, then you should always keep the following points in mind -

  • Use your brand name as your Twitter name. It may seem obvious, but it needs to be said!
  • If branding a company is your number one priority, use your logo as your Twitter picture.
  • You should tweet 10 to 20 times a day to keep your brand name in the Twitter stream.
  • Reply to Everything
  • Learn to give. To build a strong brand on Twitter you will need to give back as much as you get. Share content from your "tweeps", retweet, and favorite relevant content.
  • Follow at least two new people a day. Follow back anyone who followed you. It's the best way to keep followers! Click on "Followers" and then follow anyone in your stream that you are not connected with.
  • One of the biggest mistake people make on Twitter is not using relevant hashtags. You may want to create your own personal hashtag to archive your tweets but use hashtags that are trending when posting, so that your content gets seen.
  • Tweet questions or a call-to-action when you post. People are more likely to respond when they're asked something. There's an option to create polls too.


LinkedIn

LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for individuals and companies looking to make new connections, generate leads, and build their brand. In addition to being a great way to recruit new talent, LinkedIn marketing is a likely top marketing tool to employ for B2B businesses. It consistently proves to be the platform of choice for marketing product launches and lead generation.

Set up a company page: Setting up your business as a "company" on LinkedIn isn't going to generate a bunch of leads, but it does give you an opportunity to have a presence on LinkedIn beyond a personal profile to ratchet up your company's charisma.

LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network.

  1. Most efficient way to manage your network
  2. Generating leads and referrals
  3. Building your brand
  4. Showcasing products and services
  5. Attracting new talent


Pinterest

Pinterest helps people discover things in a simple, visual way. Pinners might find something they love while browsing your boards, scrolling through a category you're listed in or searching for you directly.



Pinterest Pins

On Pinterest, each Pin is an idea - a gift, recipe, or even a quote. They always point back to the sites they came from (like yours!) If you add the Save button to your site, people can use it to add your content to Pinterest.

Pinterest pins are 100 times more spreadable than a tweet, with the retweet average hitting only 1.4%. And, as for Facebook, the half-life of a pin is 1,6000x longer than a Facebook post.

Boards are where people collect and organize their Pins. Each board tells a unique story about what that person cares about. People can follow boards whose Pins they like.

Pinterest Business Account

If you don't have an account already, or if your account is personal, you're going to need to sign up for an official Pinterest for Business account in order to tap into the full potential of Pinterest.

By creating a business account, you'll also be getting access to Pinterest Analytics, one of the newest and most awesome features of Pinterest for Business account. When you verify your account, you get access to important tracking information. You'll be able to see which strategies and content work, so you can constantly improve your marketing.



YouTube

YouTube is no longer a new platform, it's over ten years old! However, it is seeing tremendous growth. If it isn't already a part of your online marketing strategy, it needs to be. But what types of YouTube videos should you be making? The key is to find the place where, what your brand stands for and what your audience cares about intersect.