Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Social Marketing for your Business

Social Marketing - An increasingly popular way to advertise your business is through social marketing networks. As a matter of fact, a business with no social marketing can lose sales from competitors who are continually making a name on the Internet. Social marketing sites are a staple in creating buzz over your product, designs, or solutions. If you haven’t started using social networking to advertise your business, you are probably behind your competitors. Here is a list of the most popular social marketing ideas.

1. Blogging. Blogging is the number one way to express ideas and let others know about your products. Blogging can also be search engine optimized to drive traffic to your site. Blogging as a way for social marketing advertising is a free form of driving large amounts of traffic to your site and quickly start creating buzz about your business.

2. Social networks. We’re sure you’ve heard of Facebook and MySpace. These two websites have boomed in popularity the last few years. Having a Facebook or MySpace page can get others to recognize your brand and read updates on your pages. These options are also free to use and increases traffic with just a few minutes of your time. Twitter is a newer social site where people type in one or two sentences that express how their day is going. Although this may seem simple minded, it is actually an upcoming way to advertise your business. It allows you to express how your product is working and lets potential leads know about new product ideas. Twitter may turn out to be as big or bigger than some other social sites especially for promoting your business.

3. RSS feeds. Several RSS feeds have popped up over the Internet. Interested readers download software that keeps them apprised of news and additions to their favorite subject. You can add an RSS feed to your site that feeds into a larger group of advertisers. This can be done through your blog or social networking sites to bring your information to a large group of readers.

4. Social search. Web search engines like Yahoo and Google have setup social marketing through local news and communities. If you have a business that benefits your local community, then taking advantage of these local social marketing features of the Internet can bring customers from your community and pump money into your marketing efforts.

While this list isn’t a complete list of all the potential in social marketing, it is a good place to start when researching the social marketing advertising methods. Best of all, these marketing techniques are completely free and take only a few minutes of your day.