With social media fever running at an all-time high, it’s easy for people to lose sight of the fact that these tools are only one part of an overall online marketing strategy.
While Tweeting, Facebooking and the like are fantastic methods, they are not the only game in town. For best results, you will want to have a varied mix of marketing tools in play all at once.
However, it is worth mentioning that before you even start implementing any marketing strategies, you’ll want to be crystal clear about whom it is you are trying to reach. What is your niche? Who is your target market and what is it that they want? What is your message to them? This is a point of “stuckness” for many clients and it does take work to discover. But once you have that, reaching them becomes a whole lot easier.
At that point, much of your job centers on driving traffic to your website or blog so that prospective clients or customers can find out more. (You DO have a site, don’t you?) One of the best ways to increase the chances that someone will eventually buy from you is to build an email list. Essentially, you want to have a way to capture people’s email address and first name so that you may keep in touch with them, build trust, and make offers in the future. It’s a good idea to entice people to provide their information by offering something in exchange, such as a free report or email course. Then, keep yourself on their radar by sending them a weekly or bi-weekly email newsletter.
Social media is an awesome way to drive traffic and build your list, but it is only one way. Consider these other techniques as well (just a few of many):
*Writing and submitting articles to article directories like Ezinearticles.com It’s beyond the scope of this article, but you should be sure you are using some form of a launch strategy when you are ready to begin selling a new service or product. Unfortunately, “if you build it they will come” does not apply to online businesses. You need to create an increasing buzz and sense of excitement about your upcoming offer in order to increase the chances that people will buy. This is known as the “pre-launch,” and it can make a huge difference in the number of sales that you make.
*Commenting on high traffic blogs and forums
*Guest blogging
*Offering free teleseminars
*Being a podcast or internet radio guest
*Utilizing your email signature
*Pay Per Click (Google Adwords)
*Implementing basic Search Engine Optimization on your site
One final area I’ll mention is copy. Copywriting is a great skill to learn in order to make your sales pages really effective. Your words matter and they can have a tremendous effect on a person who is considering purchasing from you. There are plenty of resources available to learn about this, and you don’t have to become a master of it. Knowing and using a few key techniques can go a long way.
So, be a well-rounded marketer. Use sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube along with the other strategies I’ve suggested and the results you are looking for–more traffic, more subscribers, more clients, more sales and more money–will certainly follow.
