Using Social Media to Increase Awareness

Yesterday I attended a presentation on Social Marketing by James McRoy of The Images Group.

Many of us are aware of/members of social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, You Tube etc - BUT do we know how they can be used to improve the profile of your business, generate sales, create awareness and direct traffic to your website.

James took us through a speedy overview on the power of social marketing on the internet.
Social marketing:

• Drives traffic
• Increases depth of a website visit
• Boosts conversion and ROI
• Turns the customer/Client into a sales person (they share your promotions with their networks)
• Enables you to stand out from the competition
• Provides interactivity for Clients
• Can be tracked and monitored for effectiveness (check googleanalytics for your website)

Here at Latimer Hinks we engage in a variety of social marketing activities. Our website includes social bookmarking buttons and an RSS feed.

We blog, have a Facebook and LinkedIn presence (but not a Facebook Business Page), we bookmark. We have also recently joined Twitter.

I'm not quite sure how successful Twitter is going to be for Latimer Hinks but we have had a few hits from Twitter directed to our website.

James McCoy gave a few tips on using Twitter. Here are a few of them as well as links to Tweet related sites.

• Twitter Search an easy to understand video about Twitter Search from Common Craft (excellent videos)
• Search Twitter - type in the box what you wish to search for and hey presto loads of Tweets appear!You can also search by using # then whatever you wish to search for
• Here you can search for people
• Tweetlater - productivity tools for Tweeple, many of which are free to use.
• Tweetburner - you're only allowed 140 characters per tweet. Tweetburner will shorten these urls for you, quite handy!
• AdCause - you can also advertise on Twitter from only $1

James also suggested that Tweets be limited, 30 per hour is far too many and you could have your account suspended.

Don't keep trying to sell, sell, sell - give something back to the Tweet community.

Join as a personal Tweeter as well as a Business Tweeter (you are allowed more than one account). Try to keep your business Tweet name as close to your business name as possible. Perhaps you have diffreent products to promote - open a tweet account for all of them!

Obviously social marketing is time consuming, BUT the majority of sites/applications are free to use. Develop a strategy (trial and error) and if it works, stick with it!

Happy Tweeting - why not come along and follow my tweets.