Social Media offers instant and low-cost opportunities to gain customers, increase insight into what your customers are looking for, and get them engaged in your business. Social media includes many different communication channels, including Facebook, Twitter, blogs, forums and podcasts, just to name a few. So how can you take advantage of the latest social media feeds to improve your bottom line?
News from Redfern Solutions
YOU NEVER SEE 20 per cent off Diet Coke or 15 per cent off Colgate. Have you ever wondered why? Well, there's a very good reason why the packaged goods industry doesn't use percentage-off incentives to promote products, while the rest of the retail world has gone percentage crazy.
by: Risa Peris
To make an impact in today’s business, your company needs to have an online presence. SEO service is the leading way to market and get your business attention, by bringing more traffic to your site than any other way. Understanding how these services work will be beneficial when it comes time to put together a comprehensive online marketing plan.
SEO is also known as search engine optimization. Search engine optimization works for your company by getting you visibility on all the major search engines, including Bing, Google and Yahoo. SEO’s main job is to get your business natural high rankings with keyword searches. This will get users to click on your link bringing organic traffic to your site, and getting you results.
Getting you ranked on first page search engines entails a fair amount of work. This work includes for just a couple of examples: creating unique content for your site and linking. The idea behind this is to consistently make your site relevant enough for keyword searches. Writing unique original copy is the quickest way for your site to get indexed. Linking is also another quick way to get the attention of Bing, Google and Yahoo. When your site is linked by another reputed business, it helps the search engines find you. Linking content with actual keywords will also help your business in big way.
There are a number of other SEO additional services that will only help when you need to get the online visibility that your business deserves. Those can include; maps, and Superpages.com set ups, sitemap submissions, and meta tagging.
You will never have to pay the search engine companies to get naturally ranked, but there are guideline inclusions that must be followed. Hiring expert, professional SEO management services to help your business follow these guidelines and all other aspects of search engine marketing is always recommended. Let the experts focus on your search engine marketing so that you can focus on your day-to-day business.
By Kathy Yakal
In this economy, you need all the help you can get to ensure that your business is noticed amid all the noise. Marketing is key, but which approach to take? The first thing that may pop into your mind is to send out e-mail blasts or hire a consultant. While these are good ideas, everyone's already doing the first, and the latter can be pricey. Besides, there are lots of things you can do on your own that are cheap or free.
So get creative! Use the Web and other resources at hand to try to rise above the fray.
- Increase visibility in your community.
Join local organizations that provide business networking opportunities, or start your own. Do volunteer work for a large charity. You'd be surprised at the marketing support such activities can bring. - Participate in online marketing groups.
Search Twitter and other social-networking sites for groups meeting to discuss marketing. For example, Understanding Marketing holds a chat and Q&A session on Twitter that focuses on small-business marketing. It's live each Tuesday from 8 to 9 p.m. eastern time. Search #smbiz on Tweetgrid.com. - Become know as an expert.
Blog writers and periodicals are always looking for content for their sites. Target appropriate ones and send them articles on topics associated with your business. - Reward existing customers.
Offer an exclusive incentive to your regular customers—only your regular customers. Notify them via e-mail or other contact methods, and direct them to an otherwise inaccessible page on your Web site where the offer appears. - Get your customers to bring in new customers.
Offer an incentive like a discount to customers who get a new customer to make a transaction with your business. - Spruce up your Web site.
Stale sites don't attract business. Fresh, frequently updated Web sites show your customers you're a vibrant and active business. Let users subscribe to get update notices, then update frequently. - Provide free, helpful information to your customers.
Such content should be related to your type of business and can include tips, hints, reviews, and other information that can help drive sales. For example, a business selling paint can provide a guide to selecting the best paint for different uses. Such informative content is often available from suppliers. Use it. - Offer your noncompeting business customers a link exchange.
A link exchange is much like a bulletin board at your business that holds your customers' business cards. The more links your business has to its Web site, the better your search engine placement, and the greater the number of people who see your business's links, the more will visit you. - Use downtime for marketing.
When times are slow, keep employees busy contacting customers. Create e-mail marketing documents your employees can send to individual customers. Personal contact with customers gets results. Mass e-mails are less effective and, given today's e-mail spam filters, may not be seen by many. Go for quality contacts rather than quantity. - Visit your own Web site frequently.
Look for ways it can be improved. Too often, small business Web sites load slowly, are poorly organized, and are difficult to navigate. Fix bottlenecks that impede customers and look for ways to get customers to act. Make sure all links work and lead to up-to-date content. Test campaigns with printable coupons and other incentives. For more tips, see our story "Build a Better Web Site." - Get active in the online community.
Encourage employees to do the same. Don't spam discussion forums or other social sites, but don't be afraid to use signature lines containing links to your Web site. Establish common-sense rules for yourself and your employees regarding these social-networking and discussion sites, and always strive to be positive and helpful on them. - Check out your suppliers' Web sites thoroughly.
Add links on your site to informative and helpful content on those sites. Many corporate sites offer instructional videos and other material that can inform your customers and lead them back to you, ready to do business. - Launch a blog on your site and update it frequently.
Nothing reads "I don't care" like a blog whose most recent entry is weeks old. Assign this task to employees with excellent writing skills or hire a writing service. Introduce people to your company and its staff. Highlight products. Run contests and give away company swag. Announce specials and upcoming product-line changes. Establish a "customer-of-the-month" tradition and do regular write-ups. Surely there's something you can say to your customers on a regular basis. - Use Facebook and Twitter.
Having a Facebook page may not earn you any new business, but not having one may cause customers to ask why you don't. Take some good pictures of your offices and your employees (unless you'd rather leave those details to your customers' imaginations), or, in some fashion, put a more human face on your company identity. Twitter is a young technology, and everyone's scrambling to figure out useful applications. In the meantime, let your customers at least follow you, and implement a strategy similar to what you're using in your blog. In 140 characters, that is. - Never surrender.
Getting new and potential customers to notice you is an ongoing—and sometimes uphill—battle, and one you can't ever stop fighting. Pick a new idea every week or two and implement it, no matter how small it is. Call a meeting of employees, order a pizza for lunch, and brainstorm; offer an incentive for ideas you implement. Before long, your marketing might just pay off in new sales—and happier, more involved customers.
[custom_author=kathyyakal]
