This is a guest post from GetUsSocial offering my readers the chance to win an iPad2 and sharing social media marketing tips from their experience offering Social Media Marketing Services.
You could win an iPad 2
when you enter the official GetUsSocial sweepstakes!
Enter by September 30 for your chance to win.
As a small business owner, you probably know that social media works—for building relationships, calling attention to your products or services, and getting more business. But, do you know why it works? Social media works so well because it takes something that was already working one step further. That something is word of mouth marketing.
The Power of Word of Mouth
Before Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube—even before e-mail and the World Wide Web—one of the best ways companies got business was through word of mouth. If a business provided great products and an excellent customer experience, customers would tell their friends, who would then become customers, have similar experiences, and share the news with their friends.
This process worked so well that companies caught on and started to intentionally create “shareworthy” experiences, and to ask customers to tell others if they were satisfied with their service. Many strived to be the company everyone would want to recommend.
Initially, this word of mouth marketing was a one-to-one transaction, with customers telling friends about their experiences one at a time. With social media, customers have the opportunity to share such experiences in a one-to-many or even many-to-many format, which serves to increase the reach of small businesses exponentially.
The Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing
Now there are millions of people out there talking online about different businesses. With social media, you can take steps to make your business more likely to be discussed. Here are a few examples of social media strategies you can use to take advantage of social media, otherwise known as “the next generation of word of mouth marketing”:
- Recognize that social media is not necessarily for making a sale every time someone reads an item you’ve posted. It’s for getting people familiar with you, connecting, and engaging at the next level, whatever that may be.
- Have a product, service, or program you want people to buy. While you don’t want to be overly “salesy” (see #1), you do want to take opportunities to let people know what you have to offer.
- Get on the right social media sites. That is, go where your customers and potential customers are. For more on knowing which social media sites are right for your business, read Social Media Sites: Which One’s Right for You?.
- Develop a winning social media strategy that helps you meet the unique goals of your business.
- Create content others will want to share. There are many types of information that social media users find interesting:
- Special offers
- Tips and tricks
- Your opinions about your industry or field
- News and announcements
- Community events
- Links to useful information
- Tidbits about your personal life (within reason)
Getting Started
If all of this sounds overwhelming, that’s understandable; social media can be time-consuming, especially at first. But, the rewards for your small business are worth it. To make the process more manageable, start your social media campaign one step at a time. Create one element of your social media plan each day, or sign up for just one service, and get a feel for it before joining more.
You can also get help! GetUsSocial can do all of the above for you, or help you get started on your own. GetUsSocial is an Internet marketing agency that empowers companies to leverage social media, especially Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ through resources, planning, and the implementation of social media marketing.
Whether you do it on your own or get help, the best thing you can do for your business is learn to leverage the next generation of word of mouth marketing!
Don’t forget to enter to win an iPad 2 when you Enter the GetUsSocial sweepstakes by September 30. If you like this post you may want to Like them while you’re there and follow @GetUsSocial on Twitter!