Putting Social Media to Work …The Right Way!

Social Media & SEO go hand in hand. Both are great ways to drive traffic to your business. Smart businesses reach out to the world around them because they no longer operate solely from a storefront in their own hometown. You are playing on an arena where your clients come from ten miles away to ten thousand miles away. Maximize your marketing and internet presence and put social media to work the right way for your business.

These three are the social media giants that your company should be utilizing on a regular basis.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• YouTube

For each area of social media you can play up different aspects of your company. Just as you cannot operate from a single storefront window you cannot operate from a single computer window. Tabbed browsing is the new window shopping. With social media & SEO you need to make sure you are in every window.

Facebook: What was once a valued customer list is now a list of friends on facebook. Driving business to your facebook page is a wonderful way to increase customer capture. If you are a soap company perhaps and you have a facebook page you would advertise this in your shop. People would join your page. You would be showing up in their news feed. What are they reading?

You cannot simply state that you have a new sea salt and vodka scrub. Well, you could but it would be a boring post. Instead use facebook to put up a post about the antiseptic properties of vodka under a picture of your new product in a martini glass. This quirky image and bit of fact will get your friends talking.

Further you can create a facebook event where folks can post images of themselves using the new scrub and you will pick a winners picture. When talking about this event utilize SEO to capture people searching for community events. Capture people looking for a new skin scrub. Your facebook page will draw them in as it is fun and the right product.

Twitter: 140 characters is not a lot of space. Twitter is perfect for running up to the minute specials for twitter fans. Let’s say that you are a vegan cupcake restaurant. Start a busy summer weekend by posting vegan BBQ tips. Drop quirky tips about how to mix the right drinks to bring out the flavor of cold beet soup. You will be able to draw twitter followers in who are searching for information on being vegan.

Since you spent the busy time doing fun and silly things what you then do on slower business days is maximize social media & SEO. You can hone in on your SEO keywords to talk more about your cupcakes during the week. Run a 10% off sale where twitter followers can come to see you that evening for a tasting of a new red velvet cupcake. Draw them in and then convert them to clients.

YouTube: A picture speaks 1000 words. A video is priceless. Consider that you are a bed and breakfast and you are looking to compete with the top hotels in the area. You want to show people why you are different. Have someone like Sleep Here Now come and do a review on your bed and breakfast. People will be able to see what your bed and breakfast looks like. People will get a third party perspective on what makes you a better option.

If you make a great drenched French toast you should make a YouTube video about how to cook it. People who are searching for breakfast recipes will not only see a great recipe but they will get an idea for a weekend trip. If they like your video they will share it. If they share it you will bring in more clients.

All three of these examples of maximizing social media & SEO have certain things in common.

• Be funny when you can.
• Talk not only about your product but about why it is great.
• Get your viewers involved.
• Show don’t tell.

Once you get them interested in you social media pages keep them there. Do not be one of those people that post 100 times a day. Be smart and post once a day or every other day. Put up facts, customer stories, comments, promos and event information. Be social, become their friend.

Maximize your social media & SEO by talking about one of your tags at least once a week. When they look for you what do they look for? Make it easier for people to find you by being out there on multiple platforms.