The Internet is a place where you can do almost anything from joining social networks to creating your own job. Almost all companies try to include a form of social media to help get the word out about their business. This can be from realtors using Twitter to tweet out new listings on the market to someone using Facebook to get traffic to their blog. You can create a website or sign up for a social media site and set it up perfectly, but that alone won’t attract visitors. You need a way of promoting these sites to get the right kind of traffic to your social media sites. Anyone can achieve these tips and I’ve seen very good results from using some of these tips myself.
Add to your email signature.
You no doubt deal with email on a daily basis and are always emailing potential clients or people with whom you communicate on a regular basis. Almost all email clients have a way of creating custom signatures to use in your email. Be careful, though: If you’re like me and are signed up for a million and one social networks and sites, then just use the basics. Where do you want your visitors to go first? What is your strongest influence? Also, be sure not to include all of your social networking profiles because that could amount to a very large signature and could be caught as spam. Some spam clients in email will look for the number of links in an email, so consider just adding a maximum of two to your signature to be safe that it doesn’t end up in the recipient’s junk mail box.
Add links to your website.
Why make it hard for your visitors? If you want to drive traffic to your social media profiles, add image buttons or links to them from somewhere simple in your website, like a sidebar or in the footer. By giving visitors and customers easy ways to find you, that increases your chances for them to discover more and keep them on your site.
Add social media share buttons.
Every site has at least one of these, and chances are they have more than one. Social media share buttons help visitors share content they like without having to go to their social media site to share it. From Facebook to Twitter and even Google+, all of these services offer some sort of embeddable button that allows users to share content from within the page just by pressing a button. By eliminating the process of copy and pasting the link into a social media site, giving visitors a button simplifies the process. All you need are a few minor HTML skills to edit the template and go to the development section of your favorite site; you’ll most likely find its premade buttons. It’s also a good reminder that you should add more than one, primarily Twitter, Facebook, and maybe Google+. Those are the top shared sites, but the more the better — just be sure not to overdo it.
Use them on your business cards.
It may seem a little outdated, but people still use business cards when out on a job or at a convention. It is probably the simplest method of spreading your network presence. Along with the standard information on the card, add a line or two for your social media profiles. This might be a slower method of spreading your social media profiles, but it targets who you really want to have following you. Remember that targeting your niche audience brings a focused crowd that a business could profit from when selling something specific.
Include it in any advertising done.
If you’re a business or a person making a banner to put on a website, consider adding a small text blurb of your social media profiles. When people see that advertisement, they know that they can trust a site like Facebook or Twitter to view more information about the product of service that you’re offering.
Use QR codes.
It may sound a little ridiculous, but it works. The mystery about what it is and what it contains can attract visitors. There are many ways to spread around this QR code. You can add it to a business card or put it on an advertisement. There are lots of people out there with smartphones, and those people with smartphones have cameras and apps that they can use to scan it. Not only does it work on iPhone, but Android, BlackBerry and even webOS have ways to read QR codes. These QR codes can hold tons of data from URL links to plain text, like a coupon code off one of your products. A great example is using it to link to social media profiles and having people like or follow your accounts.
Use it in a contest to gain traction.
If your business ever does a contest, remember to integrate it into social media, somehow. You can use it to make people follow or share your brand on their favorite social network, and they’ll mention your page. This creates a cascading effect, because their friends or followers will see it and you could be shared by their following and picked up by another person. I found it a great way to gain traction when I held a Twitter contest and had people @message me with a piece of text. It worked very well and I gained a lot of quality followers.
Use social networking mobile apps.
Promoters probably have smartphones and their social media sites probably have mobile applications. Someone who is trying to share things should download the social media’s mobile app and use it to share while on the road. They should share everything from photos to locations and beyond. Audiences are very responsive to media and, even better, interactive media. A good example is taking a picture of the project with a smartphone and posing it to the social media sites, asking questions about the product. That can be shared and responded to making, again, their followers see the response to you and can make them investigate more about what you do.
Use events that you’re attending to spread the word.
When getting ready for an expo or event, make sure to include your profiles in everything from signs to little knickknacks left on the table. Like I said before, at live events you’ll have a more concentrated audience and pointing them in the right direction is crucial to expanding your online profile.
Tell people about your social media profiles.
Don’t just use the Internet, but when at a convention or out talking with people, you should drop the line about your profiles. Don’t ever assume that people will find you online correctly. Make sure they know exactly who you are online and how to find you properly. There’s always going to be someone who tries to make a fake profile of you, or the name you want on the social site was taken so you had to name it something different. Pointing people in the right direction is the key — whether it’s online or offline make sure they have the right profile.
Well, there you have it: tips on how to increase your presence in social media. Be sure to leave a comment below if you think I forgot something.
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