Photo by Brenda Anderson
Social media and social networking (one example of social media) have a number of characteristics that make them fundamentally different from traditional media like newspapers, television, books, and radio. Social media depends on relationships – interactions between people, discussion and integration of words using technology as a conduit.
To get the most out of all the tools available, it's important to
- have a clear unique message
- have a clear strategy to communicate your unique message
- understand the tools of social media
Blogging
This is the beginning of the conversation with your marketplace. Static websites provide information, but a blog is the starting point of engaging your marketplace in conversation.
After having done research in forums and groups - observing what your marketplace is asking and talking about – you have a better understanding of the conversation that is already taking place. You can carry on the conversation that you observed over at your blog. Create a set of frequently asked questions from your forums and groups research and answer them on your blog.
Be careful to post on your blog with a two-way conversation in mind. Don't just inform your reader, make them think and encourage them to respond by commenting on your blog.
Article Marketing
This takes your message out in the market place with the two-fold purpose of increasing website traffic by capturing the attention of your market place and drawing them back to your blog (or website) to continue the conversation; and to add links back to your site to increase your rank on search engines.
Think of article marketing as "samples" of your expertise. Don't be stingy with the samples of your expertise. The more you share, the more your message will grow. Conversation fosters creativity. Your articles are the doorways to more conversation with you and your expertise linked back to your blog.
Social Networking Sites
There are social networking sites that are more like an online resume or profile of who you are and what you do. Set these up to attract traditional media or to manage your career. Examples of this style is LinkedIn or Facebook.
Then, there are social networking sites that are much more conversational – sites like Twitter and Pownce that are very much like global instant message on a much larger scale..
You even can use RSS feeds of your articles and blog posts to populate social networking sites with samples of your expertise.
Finally, there is video, audio and Internet radio shows – this is an awesome way to engage your clients in the marketplace. I will cover these three tools in my next post.
The goal with social networking is to engage your market place in conversation and to establish a presence. With the use of RSS feeds you can appear to be everywhere, when in reality, you may only be active on a couple of sites. By establishing a presence in many places on the internet it helps to build familiarity and potentially trust if your message resonates with your audience.
Chris Brogan, a well known blogger on the topic of social media and social networking, posted a great list of 20 free downloadable ebooks on the topic of social media and social networking. If you're hungry for more information on what I call "conversation as marketing," any of these ebooks will provide you with lots of information to create a strategy.
Tell me, what is your strategy for managing social networking to promote your business? Or do you just use these tools to stay in touch with friends & family?
__
Melody Campbell is a virtual buzz strategist working with coaches, speakers, authors and entrepreneurs to increase business with integrated social media and social networking strategies. You can find Melody herehere. and
Loading ...
Comments are closed.