Social Media Marketing Strategies

By Tammy Corbett (c) 2009
SiteProNews

There has been a significant jump in the popularity of social media websites over the past few years. With it has come a shift in the way that people search for information and how they share and consult opinions on the internet when making purchasing decisions.

If you've just stumbled onto this RSS feed and remember to subscribe to Maryland Internet Advertising on Blogger via Email to ensure you can enjoy the latest post(s).

Social media sites such as Facebook, StumbleUpon and Digg, give users a voice on the internet by providing tools to connect, exchange views, share content, information, and recommend products and services using the "thumbs up or down" approach. This has caused a huge shift in the way people search for information online. More and more, Internet users rely on the opinions of others before they buy into the validity of a product or service.

"Word of mouth" is no longer only from mouth to ear, but is more frequently spread on social media sites and it has never been so powerful. Any product or service deemed worthy is promoted, shared, or discouraged against in these online social communities.

Social Media Marketing (SMM) targets users by promoting content through bookmarking, blogging, online video sharing, and social networking to potentially expand audience and drive traffic. Businesses are beginning to understand the power of these influences when it comes to establishing a reputation and growing their online business. Social media marketing strategies such as a business' engagement in various social media websites can help to generate branding and a personal connection with its users.

Business Profiles
One of the most important social media marketing methods includes posting business profiles on social media websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Instead of waiting around for consumers to come to you, you have to reach out to your target audience. Solidifying your presence in the social media community creates a direct interaction between business and consumer that may not dramatically improve conversion rates but is definitely capable of establishing branding power and credibility. The valuable feedback consumers provide promotes insight in determining what business strategies are working and what could be re-evaluated to make a website more user-friendly.

Search Results
The influence of social media sites has changed the way search engines define placement. Images, videos and news content featured on social media sites such as Youtube, Digg, and Flickr are equally capable of sitting comfortably at the top of the search results leaving others, who have not yet jumped on the social media bandwagon, a little confused.

(for example... my competitors, if you want to call them that. "Sucessful people do the things that failures don't like to do" - Earl Nightengale)

About The Author
Tammy Corbett is the resident expert for social media marketing at Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.

So what does all this mean to a Local Maryland Small Business?

It means if you own a small business...

or if you work for a small business and you want to keep your job... You want to get a Facebook account for your company.

And you need a pro to run it for you...

So who's is gonna do this for you and how much is it gonna cost?

Announcing Frederick Web Promotions now offers Ghost Writing Services for Company Facebook Accounts. Facebook blocks the content of your personal Facebook page from Google's indexing. Facebook Fan Pages, however, are searchable (and index-able) by Google.

Company Facebook Fan Pages created, managed, and Ghost Written