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Social Networks are the fastest evolving media in the world. In less than a dozen years, it has gone from relative obscurity to internet dominance. Today, any business that ignores social media does so at its own peril. Social networking and Social media have become integral to internet marketing, business and social communications. Most importantly, it has changed the dynamic of what advertisers can say, do and get away with. No longer can businesses get away with touting poor products as the latest and greatest. Businesses can’t continue to provide poor customer service and expect to keep it under wraps. Today social networks allow consumers to spread good or bad news at the speed of the internet. Businesses have to be proactive using social networks to stay ahead of the competition and any bad news that may escape into the social “network-sphere”. This article will provide 15 reasons why every business needs to proactively be using social media to win the hearts and minds of the consuming public. They will be listed in descending order of importance (as chosen by me) to help you see the big picture. So let the countdown begin.
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14. Social Media provides back-links to your
other web properties. This helps your SEO efforts by providing relevant
and current backlinks to your websites. Social posts that are keyword
optimized, relevant and timely, will improve your ranking if they are positive,
commented on and shared. On top of that, every post counts as a separate
backlink! These links can also rank high on search engines, especially if
they are optimized for evergreen subjects or topics that are trending. All posts
made to social nets (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest,
Google+, YouTube, Blogger and many others) all produce backlinks for your
websites.
13. Social Networks can improve Organic Search Ranking. For
the most part, Google keeps secret its organic search ranking algorithms.
However, they often talk in general terms and have publicly stated that social
media plays a very important role in their ranking system. Google’s own
spokesmen and several studies, bear this out. We believe that out of the top
ten ranking factors, a majority of them involve social networks in some way
shape or form. This is especially true when you realize that every social post
is a backlink to your web properties. It also falls in line with the
understanding that social rating, sharing, and commenting all play a factor in
producing the “best user search experience”, which is what google say’s is the
ultimate goal of their search engine.
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11. You can sell directly on your social sites. Let’s make
this perfectly clear. Social sites are websites! Whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn,
Twitter or Blogger, social sites are also websites and many today allow you to program
then in ways that allow you can add links to your shopping carts or have
shopping carts embedded directly on the social pages. The primary difference
between selling on your “website” and your social site is that you don’t own or
pay for the use of the social site. You may own the content, but in most cases
you are not paying rent to Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogger or any other social site
for hosting. There are some technical limitations on social sites but those restrictions,
no longer prohibit selling on them.
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9. Social networks have become the go to platform for new product
launches. Many of the automobile manufacturers, movie production companies,
music artists and large manufactures all announce their latest products on
social media. They do this because, they can reach a huge number of people
quickly and for the most part, at a low cost. Obviously they also do press
releases, run PPC campaigns and a whole horde of regular media ads, but the
initial launch often happens in social media.
8. Social media is the go to platform for major public announcements.
Most, if not all political candidates make major announcements via social
media. Sometimes these announcements are posted during simulcast live events,
but more often than not, they tweet to Twitter or post to Instagram just before
they make the TV announcement. Also, many of our emergency announcements are
broadcast on social media and most news outlets leak announcement’s in social
media while providing links back to their regular media websites to create
traffic for their stories.
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6. Social media provides real client engagement; no
other media does this so well. There is no question that social networks
provide the best way to engage your clients and prospects. No other media can
provide such a quick and direct way to communicate with clients. When a
customer makes a comment on one of your posts, you can quickly speak directly
to them by answering or commenting on their post. You can even see if they are
online and invite them to chat with you outside of the news feed. You can even
invite them to take part in a private phone conversation. There are other chat
and direct response services out there that can help improve this kind of
interaction. Few are free to use and are not part of the built in culture of
Social Networks.
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4. Social networks provide psychographic and demographic
information on your target market!
Facebook provides psycho-graphic and demographic profiles on its
followers. To a great extent you can target prospects on LinkedIn with great
precision. Subscriber profiles on Twitter and many other social networks allow
you to search for and target specific industries’, zip codes, interest and much
more. Your ability to target subscribers via their profile is one of the
main differences between a social media Pay per Click programs and a search
Engine pay per click program. With search engine targeting, you are selecting a
specific demographic and keyword. With social media you are targeting their psychographic
information and keyword. This can be much more specific and
powerful. Also, when a person likes, favors or follows your social
page, it's a tacit, if not an overt endorsement of you, your product or
company.
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2. Social networks provide a huge fishing pond to prospect
in! Facebook is the number two destination on the internet. With 1.2 billion+ subscribers
that cross all walks of life. If you added all the subscribers for Facebook,
Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Blogger and YouTube, you
would end up with a number that probably comes close to half the population of
earth. Ninety eight percent of all social
networks are basically free to use. Granted, there is some overlap,
but even a conservative estimate of users would still be more than 2
billion people no matter what!
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Today
the average person believes that ads provide exaggerated claims and are
deceptive in nature. On the other hand, when a person mentions how great your
product or service is, that endorsement is considered a testimonial. Word of
mouth is perceived as the absolute truth and is priceless! Here's the bottom
line - Social Networking is Electronic Word of Mouth. It puts word of mouth on steroids,
where both good and bad news travels at the speed of the internet. Both good
and bad can go viral and both good and bad messages can create a life of their
own!
Social media marketing is extremely powerful. Yet many
businesses don’t engage in it because it is labor intensive and needs to be
managed on a daily basis. Social media marketing is relatively simple, but it
isn’t easy. Monitoring social post for mentions, researching curated content,
writing and publishing authoritative content, engaging and managing followers
is a full time job. Having said this, it's common knowledge that word
of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising there is. Social Networking
is all about word of mouth. It's word of mouth at the speed of the
internet. It can provide exponential growth and sales for those companies who
are willing to take on the challenge!
In this article I have shared 15 powerful reasons why you
should be engaged in Social Media marketing. It’s becoming a vital part of every
businesses internet presence. The truth is this; even if you’re not using
Social Media, your clients and prospects are, and they are talking about your
product or service whether you know it or not. Social word of mouth can help
you grow or kill you dead, quickly. If you are not managing this part of your
marketing, you’re vulnerable, and it can have a life of its own! If you want to
have a semblance of control and the ability to steer your brand message, you
will have to be proactive with your social marketing, your audience and your
brand. Not using social media today is like being an ostrich with its head in
the sand, just before the lion waltz’s in for dinner.
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That’s my opinion, I look forward to hearing
yours.
If you found this article useful please share it with your
friends, family and co-workers. If you have a comment or a different opinion,
join the conversation by adding it to the comment section below. I recommend
checking out "Understanding the Difference Between Branding, Marketing and
Advertising" or "How to Create Your Unique Selling Proposition (AKA USP)"
and " The
Ultimate Guide to Creating an Ideal Customer Profile". You can
also search for other related articles by typing in “social media or social
networking” in the search box at the top of this blog.
If you feel your business could use some help with its marketing, contact us at 904-410-2091,We will provide a free marketing analysis to help you get better results. Don't forget to Plus us on Google+ as well. If you'd like a free copy of our eBook, "Internet
Marketing Tips for the 21st Century," please fill in the form on the right hand side bar. You
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private and is never sold.
Hector
Cisneros is a partner, COO and Social Media Director for the
award-winning, Internet-based marketing firm, Working the Web to Win, in
Jacksonville, FL. You can connect with him on Twitter,
Facebook, Google+,
LinkedIn,
and YouTube.
He’s also the co-host of BlogTalkRadio’s “Working the Web to Win,”
where he and Working the Web to Win’s co-founder, Carl Weiss, make working
the web to win simple for every business. He's a published author of three
books, "60
Seconds to Success"(available at Amazon and B&N),
and "Internet Marketing for the
21st Century," which you can get by filling out the form above. He’s
also the co-author of the new book, “Working The Web to Win,” which is
now available on Amazon.com.
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