Social Media Marketing Help?

[handmeafork]

I'm starting a new business and I and kinda new to this whole social media monster, and I don't really have too much time to be on the internet all day trying to learn it. Is there a service that can do it for me?

[so23]

There is really no reason to spend too much time on the net trying to understand social media marketing. Just use the key fundamentals. 1st off you must have a good website... easy to navigate and straight to the point. This will be used as a link or track back in the next part of the Social media marketing plan. Next its a great idea to find other businesses that complement your own; you can then form partnerships and share reciprocal links to further expand your reach on the net. Try to avoid link farms if you can as these are not quality links (mainly due to relevancy issues) and there is a good chance the major search engines will penalize you for their use. Third, its a good idea to explain your service by writing articles about what you do; or better yet use Video to convey your message. There is no doubt that the Video Ad platform is the most effective marketing tool out there beating text and banner ads down flat. You can utilize certain sites like <a href=”http://adwido.com”>Adwido.com</a> or <a href=”http://Viddler.com”>Viddler.com</a> to upload video content for free. In turn this will definitely help to optimize your content on the web as well. Other than these tips its all going to be about the "widget" or your product in the end. If it truly satisfies a particular need then you've got the most important aspect for any business in line.

[techsavvy16]

Right now the future of E-commerce 2.0 is social selling. Social networks and online communities are taking the marketing world by storm, and their effects are now beginning to filter through the business world in new and innovative ways, with the very real potential to radically change the way you sell.Social selling is the promotion of your products and services using social tools to converse and collaborate with people.
Social media enables you to narrow down your target group, thus creating a collection of ideal prospects and company decision makers.

A business with an Amazon storefront, Ebay account, and even their own website that allows customers to buy and checkout is the old way of social seeling. They are not doing it through social media, like Facebook and Twitter. Social commerce is a fairly new trend and could prove quite profitable for sellers who frequent social-networking sites. Putting an embeddable , portable "e-store" on a company's facebook fan page will prove to be very beneficial. Since social commerce depends heavily on personal relationships among sellers and buyers, as well as recommendations, putting the mini stores, for example Toldya.com, on these sites seemed like a logical move.

[ChristineG]

Hi, just curious what kind of business you have? Are you doing anything with social media yet at all?

[SBMarketingGuy]

You can always outsource this work to a company (check my signature); however, there are tools available that will help you automate some of the social media marketing process like Twollow.

Before you go down that route, you should understand the fundamentals of social media marketing and how to make an effective use of it. You also have to consider your business and what products and services you offer as there are some businesses that just won't get a good ROI through social media marketing.

The basic idea behind social media marketing is to establish yourself as a friend and authority on a particular subject by participating in conversations, providing informative/entertaining links and resources, posting great content (through a blog), and then 5-10% of the time plugging a special or offer from your business. If you go out there with only the goal to sell, you'll be seen as annoying and self-serving. There is a zen like approach with social media marketing, you want to go out and assist others and in return business comes your way.

Here are 16 rules to social media marketing that I think may be a good starting point for you.

[handmeafork]

Originally Posted by ChristineG

Hi, just curious what kind of business you have? Are you doing anything with social media yet at all?

I'm starting a music website. I've done a little social media but just some interaction with friends. My website won't really be selling anything. I just want it to be a place for people to go for information. I just need some tips on how to skew social media in a business sense. I doubt people want to know what my business is doing during the day, like what I post to my friends.

[Lou Randolf]

I know that you are looking for books but if you are interested in a website that can give you all of this information then i found one while i was looking around for twitter guides. The website is a good foundation for social media marketing and gives you some good pointers and guidelines.

[rpfirehawk]

Also check out http://myereputation.com/

I have clients who have had great success with them. [Note: I am not endorsing them nor do I receive any commission, so please use your own judgement.]

[VBN411]

Originally Posted by handmeafork

I'm starting a music website. I've done a little social media but just some interaction with friends. My website won't really be selling anything. I just want it to be a place for people to go for information. I just need some tips on how to skew social media in a business sense. I doubt people want to know what my business is doing during the day, like what I post to my friends.

Do you mean information on music artists? You're right about people not having any particular interest about what your business is doing LITERALLY, but if it's the music artists or songs they are interested in, you could use the status feed to keep them up-to-date with hot new releases, latest musical duos/collaborations, local concerts/events/tours... those are the kind of things people do like reading about. Social media can really help you get your business' brand out there and strengthen your supporters. There are a lot to choose from, too, so I say test a few of them out and decide which one works best for your type of business. Hope this helps

[IsraelExporter]

Hi

If you want to succeed on social media then focus on marketing your information

Most people focus on marketing their links ....people are not interested in your link (yet) they are interested in your information! Pre-sell and they will come.

I mainly use:

Article directories
Forums
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter