If you are not doing social marketing right, you are wasting time and money.
If you are doing it wrong, you could even be driving your media-literate customers away.
You must use social media, because this is where your customers are consuming ever greater volumes of information and time.
If the value of an advertising campaign is the number of people who see it, your business must go where the consumers are - online.
One of the advantages of internet marketing is that you gain a global presence as soon as you go online.
Join forces with an internet marketer.
They will set up a site that will bring business to your business, day or night, day after day.
Creating and sustaining a social media presence and marketing campaign is easier when you hire help.
This is another benefit of the internet.
You can hire the best talent at an affordable price, often finding experts who can create content or videos overnight or through the weekend due differences in your relative locations.
Using an outsourcing company allows you to hand over social media marketing to someone who can do it when you are not available or keep the site running 24x7.
Creating a website is only the first step in online marketing.
You also need to determine the best social media platforms to reach your target demographic.
Where are your potential customers located? What media forms will reach the greatest numbers? Which social media platforms contain the demographic groups most likely to buy your product? For example, you may do better finding skilled professionals to buy your products or hire you as a consultant on LinkedIn than setting up a Facebook page and assuming that the sheer volume of people on the site will result in page views.
A social media expert group can help you do this.
Content creation is another stumbling block for businesses.
Social media marketing is far more than sending Tweets to employees with links to your online product catalog.
You need to write blogs that people will read and then act upon.
You need to create online content that will bring casual readers to your website and generate interest in your products.
Creating poor content will drive away visitors while stale or boring Tweets will kill a social marketing channel.
Hire the experts to ensure that your social media presence does not drive away your customers instead of luring new ones in.
Hire social marketing experts to create content that will bring the visitors you want to your website and keep your search engine rankings high.
Humans are a visual species.
Moving images catch our attention and hold it far better than words on a screen or even pictures.
Add video to your websites to keep visitors on the page and attract them further.
Create value added videos to connect with your customers.
You can learn how to do this with professional courses.
The beauty of the internet is that all voices are equal.
A small business with a crisp, clear and engaging social media campaign can out-compete the corporate conglomerates.
However, you need to have the right tools, knowledge and help to do it right.
Connect with companies experienced in internet marketing for small business to connect with your current and future customers.