When was the last time you used Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn?  Was it this morning?  An hour ago?  Maybe you’re on it now as you read this article.  Social media has essentially taken over our lives to keep up with family, friends, current news, and to meet new people.  But we have a feeling you aren’t taking full advantage of what social media has to offer.

To help you, we’ve put together an infographic (below) illustrating the top 8 benefits of using social media for marketing purposes.

8 Benefits Social Media Marketing

social media

The word “Social Media” is commonly used by many different people, but when it comes to explaining social media, it is very difficult to explain it because no one exactly know  what social media is. Here we will tell you what social media actually is.

Social media covers websites and applications that not only give you information, but also allow you to participate in social networking with others around you. Your participation may be vary from something simple, such as commenting or ‘liking’ something someone has written, to more complex websites such as Flixster which recommend movies to you based on ratings by your friends. Basically, social media allows you to communicate to others around you. Some of the most popular social media websites are:

Facebook:

Facebook is one of the most popular social channels in the world, with just over 1.3 billion users around the globe. If you haven’t already heard of it, Facebook is free social media network where you can create your own profile, upload videos and photos, share a ‘status’, and you can also send messages to your friends and family.

Twitter:

Twitter is also a very massive and popular site. Over 500 million users use twitter. Twitter is a very effective social channel as it allows its users to interact very closely. Here user can broadcasts short posts which are known as tweets.

Google+:

Google+ is another effective media tool. It is designed to reproduce the way people interact offline more closely than other social networks, and integrates closely with Google Authorship.

Wikipedia:

Wikipedia was founded back in 2001. Rather than being a website which allows you to connect with peers to share updates on your life, Wikipedia instead aims to provide you with information. It is a free encyclopaedia created by the users of Wikipedia, for users of Wikipedia. Anyone who is registered on the website can create and edit an article.

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn has over 277 million users across the world, and you can connect with all these 277 million users through it. LinkedIn is specially designed for business relations – that’s why it is the best media channel to promote your content. The website aims to allow you to network between people who have similar professional interests, and it can also be used as a tool to reach out to people you may have in mind for a job, or to discuss your product/service.

Ranking In Search Engines:

search engine cycle As you may already know, search engines don’t see all links equally, in the same way search engines also don’t count all social accounts similarly. Search engines use ‘social signals’ to determine how high your website is ranked. Social media websites rise more quickly than other website that’s why search engines use social signals to display social media sites on the top.     Here are some of the main areas search engines considers about Facebook and Twitter accounts when ranking them:

Twitter:

  • How many tweets and retweets a URL has.

  • What is the authority of the person who is tweeting?

Facebook:

  • How many +1’s a URL has.

  • What are the number of Facebook likes and shares URL has?

As mentioned above, search engines often take some social signals into account when ranking a website. If the followers of the Google+ will increase its ranking will also increase and in the same manner the ranking of other social media is also increase on search engines.

By now, we’ve all heard about LinkedIn – the social media site that launched in May of 2003 allowing registered users to connect with virtually anyone.

But do you know how to use your connections properly?

LinkedIn for businessMany believe clicking ‘connect’ within a persons profile and using the canned LinkedIn message “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” will render them a connection. Most of the time, it doesn’t. Using a canned message shows your lack of creative juices and bores the person who’s receiving the message. It also shows you performed no research before attempting to connect with the person.

How often do you include your reason for wanting to connect? We’re betting you either re-use the canned message here or simply don’t include a reason. Why should the CEO of Coca-Cola or the lead web designer for Major League Baseball dot com accept an invitation without knowing your motives?

Lastly, do you include a method of contact outside of LinkedIn? A phone number? Your website address? An e-mail address spelled out? You should allow the person who you’re trying to connect to a chance to peek at who you are before accepting any invites.

Having just read all of the above, you might be thinking to yourself “I am already doing this but still not getting connections” then we have a solution for you. Next week, February 18th we will be hosting our annual Hands-on LinkedIn Class with special guest Dee Reinhardt. The purpose of this class is to review what you already know and teach what you don’t – the art of using the social media platform to expand your professional network and reach untapped business.

The class will be held in Schaumburg adjacent to IL-53 freeway. Class size is limited to 20 guests, so please sign up as soon as possible so you don’t miss out.  Please click here to reserve your spot.