Understanding the Importance of Social Media for Offline Businesses
Long-time business owners may not think social media and offline business should coexist, but in realtiy, and particularly in today’s marketplace, a social media presence is essential. Brick and mortar businesses can use social media for branding, gaining name recognition and visibility at an extremely reasonable cost. Social media and inbound marketing are valuable tools in an advertising toolkit and should be an integral part of any business’s marketing strategy. Social media is also called the new media marketing.
How can you become involved in social media as an offline business? Start with a blog about your business and what you do. Be sure to update the blog often and encourage participation by way comments. You can research, discovering which social networks your customers use and become a presence on those networks. For example, you can create a Facebook page and invite customers and friends to visit your page. The page will link back to your blog and drive traffic back to your site and provide additional exposure for your business, thus increasing brand awareness.
Twitter is a very popular social media network. Most followers on Twitter are very loyal and will help promote your brand providing you engage without spamming. You must learn the social rules of Twitter and follow them accordingly or you will lose more clients than you will gain but if you use the proper etiquette you will profit for your involvement.
To make social networking work for your company, you must provide useful content that people will want to share. Bloggers today are becoming a leading source of information; work on building relationships with other bloggers through social media networks and they will provide valuable links for you.
Several social networks are specialized for businesses.
Examples include:
Explore these and other business/social media sites for the best fit for your company. It may not be wise just to join a large number of networks that you cannot maintain.
LinkedIn is one of the largest and most popular social networking platforms for business. By forming a LinkedIn group related to your company, you can attract possible sales leads. Ask your employees and others in your field to join your group. The group page will be linked to your blog, so users can find you easily. As an expert in your field, you can also answer questions on LinkedIn and gain exposure in that way.
Ecademy, spelled ecademy (small “e”), is another social network for companies and has grown quickly, having a loyal membership base. Ecademy allows you to post your business profile and connect with other entrepreneurs. Business owners can receive advice as well as promote their own services worldwide. Networking groups are a popular destination on ecademy.
Xing claims to be the number one business/social network in Europe. Over eight million people use Xing. Xing sets up connections between businesses so they can find others to meet their needs and sell their services and products. You can search among all the professionals listed to find the right match for your needs. Xing also features groups and popular events, where you can meet other network users. Job seekers will find a separate application for them on Xing.
Naymz is an online network that offers some different features from some of the other business networks. Over one million people subscribe to this free service. Naymz offers a blogging feature and identity verification, among other things. The main idea on Naymz is to establish a positive reputation. Users build their reputation score through various assessments. If you have a high-scoring reputation on Naymz, the network will provide you with a sponsored Google listing. Naymz also assists in monitoring internet sources for any time your name appears online.
XeeSM states that they are “a social business application platform.” Professionals can keep all their contacts and their individual social networks together in an orderly fashion. Salespeople are able to reach clients through any number of social media; therefore, time and money are saved. XeeSM also provides a way for recruiters and job seekers to find one another quickly. XeeSM also offers various applications, including a business level app that is quite useful.
Brick and mortar business should embrace new media, inbound marketing, Web 2.0, etc. Social media is a low-cost way to build your image worldwide. Social media and inbound marketing are the future of advertising; it is better to become involved sooner than later but in the right way, with an overall marketing strategy designed to create brand awareness and a unique online identity, the ultimate Internet image.
Would you like to talk about your business’s social media strategy? Allow us to help you create brand awareness and a social media identity that will connect with your target audience!
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John Zajaros
The Ultimate Internet Image
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-712-7004 (bus)
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johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com
Useful suggestions you’re making in the post – thank you. May I add in how important it is to include a listening stage before you start blogging, twittering or social-media-ing generally speaking, to get the feel of what socmed are – they are different from traditional interruptive media, and using socmed as just a new top-down channel (cfr. FB ads) is wasting an opportunity to start sthg new, and spoiling socmed. At least this is what I have suggsted on my own LIVErtising blog. Can I invite you there and possibly comment if you do not agree. Always eager to hear other voices.
Jean-Pierre
@LIVErtising
Great observations Jean-Pierre! I will take the time to visit you blog, thank you for taking the time to comment!
John
I loved what you had to share. Having just completed the book, “Inbound Marketing”, you touch upon and verify much of what is in this book. As you said, I feel using Linkedin, by forming a group, is a stong marketing tool to reach more and mroe B2B customers.
You are right Ed! The new media and inbound marketing offer a myriad of opportunities for those who are up on the various resources and know how to use them. Thanks for your comment and for taking the time out of your day to read the article. It is appreciated. Stop back anytime!
John Zajaros
216-712-7004
johnz@ultimateinternetimage.com