What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing involves the use of social media websites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to increase publicity and brand awareness. The ultimate goal of social media marketing is to spread the word about your business in order to increase sales. Other types of social media websites that are useful in social media marketing include content-based sites like Delicious, Digg, and StumbleUpon.

The aim of social media marketing is to get people talking about your business. This style of marketing allows businesses to network with their customers and generates widespread interest in their products/services, allowing them to connect with potential customers.

Social media marketing builds brand awareness and brand image because it spreads the word about your brand and allows you to communicate directly with your customers. An online presence that is cold and corporate is less desirable as consumers today are more interested in connecting with businesses that are run by normal people just like them.

Social media marketing is also an important aspect of online reputation management. Online reputation management involves building a positive reputation of your business and brand online. That way when people search for your business online, they will only find positive information about you via social media profiles and submissions.

The Role of Social Media Websites in Your Marketing Efforts

Facebook is a huge networking resource that allows you to build a fan base, connect with your customers, and attract new ones. Facebook is powerful because of the sheer number of people that use it. Twitter is another increasingly popular social networking website where people write short status updates. It allows businesses to network and build their online reputation. For example, if you write a great blog post for your website and share it on Twitter, there is a possibility that your tweet will go viral and attract tons of new traffic to your website.

Social voting sites like Digg and Reddit feature a variety of articles from around the internet. The more votes that an article receives the more likely it is to make it to the front page of the website. Front page exposure on social voting websites is coveted because it can drive tons of traffic to your website. However, it can be difficult to get your articles popular on these social voting websites because there are a few power users who control them and pretty much determine what will or will not go on the front page. If you want to achieve success on social voting websites, it is essential to become an established, respected member first. Newbies are not trusted on social voting sites so you have to build trust amongst your peers before they will take your votes and submissions seriously. Delicious is a social bookmarking site where people bookmark websites they like. You can get a lot of traffic from Delicious if many people bookmark your website.

LinkedIn is a social networking site for professionals. LinkedIn is most effective in social media marketing aimed at building your personal brand. Many times customers are interested in knowing more about the people behind a business so LinkedIn can help you build a positive reputation for yourself online. On LinkedIn, you can link to your main website, discuss your past work experience, and share your educational background. Having profiles on several social media and networking sites including LinkedIn will allow you to dominate the search results for your name and manage your online reputation effectively.

YouTube and Vimeo are websites where you can share videos. In order to increase positive search results for yourself or your business, post any videos about your business that such as recordings of conference speeches, free "how to" videos, or anything weird or funny. Humor and unusual material tend to be very popular on video websites so don't be afraid to be daring in your video marketing efforts. For example, BlendTec, a company that sells blenders, hit it big with their social media marketing campaign by posting a series of videos online known as, "Will it blend?" These videos featured an infomercial host blending unusual items such as an iPod and golf balls in a BlendTec blender. The videos were a huge hit because they were quirky and demonstrated the effectiveness of BlendTec blenders.

Social media expansion is incredibly important and when used properly, it can help you increase sales dramatically. The key to success in social media marketing is targeting trendy keywords and providing top-of-the-line content. Make your campaign about your customers, not yourself. The last thing people want to see is a bunch of self-promotional link spam. Use social media websites to share useful content from a variety of different sources and thus build trust in your brand. Be polite, sincere, and honest in all of your interactions. Remember, it is ultimately about "them" and not "you."