If you’re a business entity in any vertical that’s seeking to capitalize on the World Wide Web then perhaps you’ve heard of the words social media. A medium for consumer engagement via social media avenues such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTUBE & Pinterest (just to name a few) thru the means of social marketing that entails in conversations and user-generated content that helps businesses generate qualified leads and traffic. During the last 5 years these networks have become primary hubs for targeting consumers with the effort to promote a product or service.
Social Media isn’t something that everyone can fit within or have the ability to manage effectively. A seamless social integration with your website has become imperative to online success and generally all internet marketing efforts. Networks such as Facebook now boast an audience of over 800 million users of which 49% of those are right here in the U.S. Twitter’s robust micro-blogging platform shares over 100 million tweets per day which presents untapped business potential for your brand in reaching its specific target audience. Video marketing via YouTUBE’s industry leading network can put your business in front of millions of users that immerse themselves in viewing billions of videos on daily basis.
Using 4 Social Media Avenues to Generate More Website Traffic
A large portion of referral traffic is now being generated from the top social media avenues such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTUBE and Pinterest. As a newcomer to the social media realm, the invite-only Pinterest network now holds over 100 million users (that’s more than LinkedIn) therefore opening new possibilities for marketers thru the means of interest-based marketing. Leveraging the potential of each of these social giants can be rather overwhelming. As mentioned above, seamless integration of social-sharing capabilities with your content are critical to providing proper online exposure of your brand.
Why Use Facebook for Social Media Marketing?
The usage of Facebook in social media marketing efforts has become an imperative element to any internet marketing initiative. Quite frankly it’s an inevitable option that all businesses should be utilizing. With over 800 million plus strong users it’s without a social platform that should be leverage and explored for business potential. Facebook connects consumers with brands they love. A great opportunity for any business owner to utilize the interactions that take place on daily basis by exposing their brand. Fan pages and Facebook Advertising offer businesses and marketers equally the opportunity to spread awareness about a brand.
Integration of Facebook into your website is fairly simple. The various Facebook Social Plugins offer diversity and flexibility for a seamless implementation into your site. Check them out to see which one fits best for your aesthetic. If you have a business fan page, don’t worry, there’s plenty of plugins too that can appeal to your liking. Consider integrating this feature on your website, individual blog posts and any static pages that you may have on your website.
Using Twitter for Lead Generation & Referral Traffic
Twitter can be a bit tedious to understand especially for newcomers in the social space. After being on Twitter myself for nearly 4 years now I have to admit that at first it was quite confusing to understand. If you’ve never engaged in micro-blogging activities before you may struggle with understanding the means behind Twitter. Brand like JetBlue, Comcast and H&R block just to name a few have found the social platform to be of a huge opportunity for lead generation. For additional referral traffic opps to your website considering integration of Twitter sharing capabilities on your website. Your content is valuable and should be exposed with your community for additional interactions and conversation starting.
YouTUBE – Video Marketing Potential to Leverage
The days of traditional TV advertisements, how-tos and tutorials have migrated onto the ever-popular YouTUBE platform. With excess of over 3 billion video views per day it’s without a doubt one of the most critical platforms out there that you should engage in. Compare this to the entire population of Earth which roughly sits at 6 billion people. Video marketing isn’t for everyone though and actually quite challenging to some extent. However if you’re a retailor that offers a product or service there’s plenty of untapped potential for you to squeeze out of this social video giant. Integration of videos into your website is as simple as embedding a piece of code within a desired location that gives the user the ability to share. At this point in time YouTUBE offers flexibly options for a seamless website integration of your videos.
Pin It Now – Interested Based Marketing Techniques & Opportunities
Pinterest gives marketers the ability to connect with consumers on a whole another level. Never before has there been a network that’s strictly visually driven. Even more so this particular network is invite-only and primarily driven by the female gender. For anyone’s that’s been in business for some time will already know that most business around the World is driven by the female gender. Therefore here’s huge opportunity for untapped potential that you can benefit from on your website. Pinterest involves sharing of photos within your community with features such as Pinning, Repinning and Commenting. Dependent upon the industry you’re in this may be applicable for you therefore consider the addition of Pinterest to your social media sharing capabilities on the website itself.
There’s plenty of referral traffic opportunities that you can squeeze out of these networks. In most cases a few of the barriers that you may encounter will most likely be technical. This is why I typically recommend OSS applications such as WordPress and Joomla for website development.