Internet Marketing

A couple of years ago hearing an online marketing “expert” discussing social media with a small group. He was rather importantly announcing that social media was a pointless enterprise for businesses, whether they were big or small. He believed it all to be useless hype, with next to no payoff. This coming from a man proclaiming to social media marketing plans be an expert in the field.While at the time I thought he was being rather short sighted, I now realize he was actually being completely ludicrous. It was more than failing to predict the rise of sites like Facebook and Twitter as a PR tool. It was not seeing the wide applications that were already taking off at that point. He was missing what was happening in his own industry, right in front of his face.Social media in all its forms has become something more than the optional step into the modern business model it used to be. Now it is mandatory. Businesses from large corporations to tiny mom and pop shops are expected to have an online presence of some level. Not having a Facebook page, Twitter account or blog can actually lose you business.The best way to learn about social media is through both studying and participating. When you are doing so as a business, learning more about it before venturing out can be a good plan. That way you avoid common pitfalls – and full on social disasters and increase the positive results from your campaign.

Why will a plan guarantee your success?

Online media comes at you in many directions – and it’s the same for your audience. Some of the people you need to reach are Facebookers, some are hooked on Twitter, others love Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, blogs or email newsletters. You need to social media marketing podcast know where to find your social media audience across all of those networks, and you need a consistent message to bring to them.Therefore you need to research all online sources to discover where your audience will be. You’ll need to optimize your communications with them by determining what your strongest channels will be and spending less time on the weaker channels. Then, you’ll need to build a base, connecting and interacting with your audience every day. You will find out quickly whether your social media base is most firmly rooted in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Quora or Foursquare.What next? Create a video showcasing your product, launch or event. Videos are the most popular form of online content, so you’ll want to take advantage of that.With these elements in place, your next step is to consolidate your media presence.

You’ll want to monitor Twitter so that you can real estate social media marketing connect with influential local and regional journalists who will help drive your message because they share your interests. Support your outreach by issuing press releases on a regular basis.Want to go further? Consider posting audio, video and photo images of your next event. Be sure all your local listings up are up to date, including Yelp, SuperPages, Google Places/Google Plus, WhitePages, MapQuest, Citysearch, Yellowbook, Local.com and Foursquare. Even if you don’t have a storefront, these listings help stake your claim online, helping your business, idea, product or launch come up more readily in searches. Finally, consider starting up a mailing list and sending out a newsletter monthly or weekly.Get a comprehensive plan in place and watch your ideas take root and thrive.