Introduction of Social Media

Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, etc, is a space where people hang out, discuss topics with friends, share news, get suggestions and advice, and share images and videos. It can also be a place where people socialize about every topic imaginable, and then it also becomes a good place for businesses and advertising. Social Media become an important space or powerful tools for online marketer to drive traffic.

How to Perform Social Networking via Social Media

In order to get traffic by means of social networking or social media, once published a post, the next task is to share the post through social media. You can either use the social buttons (the Tweet, Like, Google Plus plugin), or you can manually copy and post the post URL into the social media and post it with some supporting dialogue. However, the average status update/post that you create will only reach 10-12% if you do not engage. This means that 90% of your friends or fans don’t see your posts. It can be a little higher than this if you are engaging your audience. That is why it is important to use social media to directly and activity perform social networking for social engagement.

How Important is Social Networking on Internet Marketing

As social networks grew in popularity and costs associated with running the businesses increased, Here are a few major benefits to improve social network via social media.

• Build a powerful brand and reputation
• Create reach that is independent of search engines (diversify)
• Take advantage of the viral nature of social for extensive reach
• Offer your customers an INSTANT medium to get help
• Allow people to share your content (more reach)
• Generate new business, new customers, and more traffic
• Getting better rankings and build social authority with your pages and posts

Driving traffic through social media is the most common and effective strategy for online marketer. The following diagram shows the traffic comparison of using varies kind of social media for your reference.

Social engagement is the key to social marketing. If you are not creating conversations and engaging people through the various social mediums, chances are very good you are wasting your time and energy (that could be better used to drive other aspects of your marketing agenda).

How to Start to Get Traffic from Facebook

Your first step is going to be to create a Facebook account. Here is the sign-up page to register for Facebook –> Facebook Sign-up . If you do not already have an account, I suggest you spend a few minutes setting up your profile, adding a profile image and adding a few friends that you may know.

There is a strategy of using social media. If you engage all your time on facebook, you may be disappointed. Normally and actually, only a few of facebook friends really capture your interest and they are likely the active and controversial ones. You should treat them as a fire starter. Beginning with a fire starter, you will have people anticipating what you have to say and you will actually benefit from your Facebook activities. Your task here is to create a Facebook status that meets the criteria of ONE of the Six Engagement activity aspects as below:

• Images (your own ideally)
• Videos (w/ supporting discussion)
• Controversy
• Topical Status Updates
• Negative Posts
• Positive Posts / Being Nice

if you post “images” regularly and actively engage people with discussions. Facebook will reward you for social engagement! Gradually, you can build up your networking and become more and more popular. It is the way to start with any kind of social media.

How to Start to Get Traffic from Google Plus

You should set-up a Google Plus account via link –> Google Plus Sign-Up . I also suggest you spend a few minutes setting up your profile, adding a profile image/description and add a few friends that you may or may not know to your circles (you can add anyone to your circles).

Google owns 65% of all searches done through the Internet and 98% of searches done through mobile. Having a Google plus account allows you to further enhance your search marketing presence and further enhance your reputation in the eyes of Google. it absolutely can have a positive impact on social engagement as well as search rankings. Like the old saying goes, “you are killing two birds with one stone”.

How to Start to Get Traffic from Twitter Account

You should set-up a Twitter account via link –> Twitter Sign-up . If you don’t already have a Twitter account, I suggest you spend a few minutes setting up your profile, adding a profile image/description and following a few people.

As with any social platform, if you aren’t going to engage people on Twitter with your tweets, your tweeting will be unheard.

So let’s start things off with some important Twitter tips that will lead you to the ultimate engagement. These are the SEVEN main things you need to know to be successful within Twitter.

• Tweet each and every post or article
• Use #tags within your tweets.
• Use keywords that get searched often and it can lead to more exposure.
• Target relevant, trending topics.
• Join in on conversations regularly
• Be nice, positive and upbeat
• Be ACTIVE!

Notice the very last point. This is definitely very critical. As you are starting to realize by now, if you are not active within any given social network, it is not going to pay off. If you implement the SEVEN main points from above, then you are going to see more success within Twitter.

How to Start to Get Traffic from Pinterest Account

You should set-up a Pinterest account via link –> Pinterest Sign-up . I suggest you spend a few minutes setting up your profile, adding a profile image and invite a few friends that you may know. You should also follow a few fellow members.

Pinterest continues to be one of the most popular social networks out there, focusing on the social element of images. The “pin board” style site has become a visual masterpiece and one in which millions of people are using to “pin” images of their favourite stuff online and organize them into pin “boards”.

As a marketer, you can leverage Pinterest to attract traffic and a following. Your “pins” and “boards” will also have the capabilities to get rankings in the search engines which in another plus. People will also share your pins (called repinning) which can lead to additional and sizeable reach.

If you are not leveraging Pinterest as a source of traffic for your website and not working to build a following, I do believe you are going to be missing out on a good deal of opportunity. It is easy to build into your daily marketing activities.

Time Management on Social Networking

If you find that you are on any particular social network throughout the entirety of your day (in and out), then it is not a part of your business. it has become a BAD HABIT. Social engagement can be good for your business if you are “engaging” for the purpose of business.

• Question: When I am Using it? (What time of the day are you using it and for how long)
• Answer: No more than 15 minutes three times per day

Don’t waste a ton of time on there, but a tweet or two per day at different times during the day can really help. This leads to more reach as different people use Twitter at different times of the day. Alternatively, in the morning, lunch time (if possible) and before you go to bed tend to work best for most, but do what works best for you. Try to spread your activities out throughout the day so that it shows your following and your audience that you are a more active user.

Creating Brand Effect via Social Networking

One thing many people forget to understand is that the same goes with any website that you create. A website with content can become a brand. You can create a website in absolutely any niche and become a reputable source of industry news, information, recommendation, discussions and ultimately have a brand. People follow brands. People trust brands. People buy from brands. Your goal with your content of post is to attract people to read it, ultimately, become a brand with people know, people trust, people follow, and people buy from as a result, even become a brand that people socialize about. We are in the age where brand is everything. If you can create and grow a brand, you are positioning yourself for a long term business growth.

Conclusion

Although driving traffic by social networking and social media is important, don’t let socializing supersede your “creation” tasks. Valuable content leads to business growth. If you are not building quality content and you are only socializing, your business is going to suffer as a result. Bare minimum activity is sharing something on a social network but always make sure your priority remains building quality content. Do not let anything interfere with this, not even social. It will lead to much more short term and long term success and yes, more social engagement. Socially engage and get rewarded with more traffic, a better brand, and a long term business success !

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any question about it, you are welcome to leave me comment.