Web Design in Oklahoma City

All marketers would say that a business needs to be where the customers are. That’s why there are ads in magazines, commercials that run on TV, and huge billboards that stand over highways. The internet is no different. Your business needs to be there.

If your business is not on the net, you risk losing customers to your competitors who are.  Having an optimized website is definitely a best place to start but that’s not all you can do. There’s also social media marketing.  Having a presence on social networking sites is important because your potential customers are likely already there.

Here are 4 simple rules to follow for your social media marketing efforts.

1. Be smart. Figure out what you want to accomplish with your social marketing and work towards that goal. If you are a corporate entity, behave as one. Make sure your online persona matches your offline persona. Anything and everything you do on these social networking sites could potentially be viewed by the world.
2. Be competitive. Check out what social sites your competitors are on. If they are on Twitter, see what they tweet about and who’s following them. If they are on Facebook, check out how their page looks, what they write about, and what kind of pictures they put up. Getting an idea of what your competitors are doing can help you decide how how to approach things. And seeing how they handle and mishandle interactions can help you develop your own strategy as well.
3. Be interesting. While keeping your public image in mind, try putting interesting and fun things on your profiles.  Let other users know that there are real people behind your company so they can feel more connected to you. Write about events, conventions, conferences, site updates, blog posts, and other social things, but try to stay away from controversial and highly opinionated topics.
4. Be nice. This can mean a lot of things so I’ll make it simple -- being nice on social sites means not spamming people. No one likes an overt promoter of themselves so don’t do it. It’s not only counter-productive, but it can even get your accounts shut down in some cases. Read the terms and services of any site you sign up to so you know the rules. On Twitter, you may need to avoid following too many people at once; on Youtube, perhaps you shouldn’t create outbound linking in comments; and the list goes on. If you’re going to participate in discussions, always have good intentions. Be helpful and don’t just use the opportunity to shamelessly plug your own product.

Following these simple rules will help you in your social media marketing. Of course, there’s a lot more to learn as well so if you have some good tips or questions, please leave them in the comments.

Happy marketing.

Stacey Clermont is an Internet Marketing Specialist at Element Fusion.