One Thing That Can Save Your Business

It is a common misconception that search engine optimization deals solely with link building and SERPs, and honestly, it’s a pretty understandable misconception. The $16 billion search industry is the center of most of our online experiences, providing online retailers and service providers with more than 39% of their customers. Though search engines are a critical component of the internet marketing world, there is so much more that goes into a quality online marketing campaign.

One major factor is social marketing. Given that nine out of ten adults use some form of social media, it’s a natural place for businesses to direct their marketing. Though 30% of businesses opt to outsource some part of their social media marketing, there are some that still choose to take it into their own hands. Here are a few tips to supercharge your social media marketing:

1. Use Pictures: If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it billions of times. A picture’s worth a thousand words. It’s also worth a thousand page views if you use it correctly. An easy way to boost the engagement of followers with your site is to use images to draw attention to your status updates. Pick something relevant, or even better, use the image to pose a question to your followers that encourages a response.
2. Choose Wisely: Too many businesses waste time and energy trying to make a big splash on every single social platform. The reality is that certain platforms appeal to certain demographics more than others. Not sure where your customers are? Ask them. You can also run a search on each social channel to locate communities talking about your business or topic of interest.
3. Follow, Delete, Repeat: You’ll never acquire new followers without doing a little following yourself. Though there are some tools that will help you find and follow relevant users, other platforms require you to do a little more legwork. Either way, take a few minutes a day or an hour a week to find new social media users and to eliminate users who don’t seem to be active or who aren’t as relevant as you initially thought.
4. Do Your Research: There isn’t much point in utilizing social media if you aren’t going to track your results. A large majority, 94%, of social media marketers track the numbers of their clients’ followers and fans. There’s still more that can be done, however. Use Google Analytics to get social media metrics. If you use custom UTM parameters on links shared in social media channels, you’ll be able to see how successful your social media presence really is.
5. Be Friendly: By participating in one on one dialogue on social channels, you create brand loyalty. Whether it’s by retweeting, replying, commenting, or even through surveys, creation of content that’s directed toward specific users helps customers to know that you value them.