Blogging as a means of promotion is a good way to boost your main site’s search engine optimization as well. Let’s consider the advantages of maintaining a blog as part of your online market strategy.

Content is King, Relevance is Key

The best way to draw visitors regularly to a site is to offer something new every time they come. Your core audience is more likely to share your URL and information if you have something to give, and blogging provides a good way to get content live and distributed easily. Whether you have a blog connected to your main site or separate, you are more likely to gain high positions in relevant search by having updated content on hand. You don’t have to write a book every day – even a few paragraphs about your products, services, or events can help.

Create Variety, Blend Search Results

As major engines like Yahoo and Google move toward a blended paradigm in search that pulls results consisting of more than static sites – videos, Tweets, and social links – bloggers have an opportunity to shine. Search engines place special emphasis on blogs as reliable sources for updated content, so as you continue post and link back to your main site, you increase the authority of your presence under your given expertise.

More Sites = More Search Real Estate

If your business has an established relationship with specific keywords, you may enjoy good results with your main site in search. The addition of an off-site blog, a Twitter account, or other sites dedicated to your business can help boost the relevance of your main site, and also keep your brand prominent. Have you ever performed a search that called up several sites belonging to one company? It may look excessive at first glance, but with all the top sites belonging to one group, there is little room if any for competitors.

New content drives people to a site. If your static main site is constructed to present your products and services, the supplementary blog keeps visitors returning. Social media may change the way people promote online, but blogging is a tried and true strategy one must continue so you can promote via social media. The support will help you main site in the long through links, relevance, and high search results.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and Facebook marketing. Clients include vendors of  organic mattresses, travel companies offering cheap European hotel reservations, Virginia health care services, Norfolk Realtors, global trade portals, and Gainesville bed and breakfast inns.

Take for example, recent advertisements for the HBO series, “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” A title card displays the show’s name along with #curb. The show doesn’t necessarily want you to like a Facebook page or check out a preview on YouTube, but they want you to create conversation. The #curb tag in Twitter or other social networks gets you into an exclusive club of Curb fans – you can search now and see what people are saying, and generate your own buzz among your friends and followers. It’s a smart move by HBO and Curb to market the show in this manner, because who can better promote a TV series, book, music act, anything, than an active group of fans?

It’s one thing to have a Twitter account with thousands of followers, and another to have thousands of Twitter users actually talking about your products and services. At the end of the day, which do you think is more valuable: a thousand people reading your posts and possibly patronizing your business, or a thousand people each tweeting about your business to their followers, and potentially increasing your visibility? This is not to say you should stop trying to bring in new followers, but this is a great time to shift some focus in your Twitter marketing to encourage positive chatter.

The Hashtag VS. the @Mention

Even if you are new to Twitter, you know the difference between using # and @ in conversation. The @ mention often directly addresses another Twitter user, while the # addresses a specific topic in Twitter that is popular, or “trending,” or part of a pertinent discussion. Conference planners often set up hashtags for conferees to follow for information, and fans of TV shows and movies may add a tag to their tweets to generate attention. Fans of “True Blood” converse during the show – just look for #trueblood in Twitter to see the activity.

As you formulate a marketing strategy that involves Twitter, you will want to focus on a unique hashtag people can use when referring to your company. While an @ mention may alert you more easily, not all of these tweets may be visible to everybody, depending on the Twitter client used. Use of the hashtag is better to promote your brand to as many Twitter account holders as possible.

Selecting a Tag

In selecting a hashtag that will identify with your company, you want to be mindful of the following:

1) Make sure it’s not already being used. Play around a bit on Twitter and test potential hashtags you would use for your company identity. Your company name or a derivative of it may work, but have an alternative if you find it’s being used.

2) Keep it short. People should discuss your company with as much free space as possible. You have 140 characters per tweet, so try to keep the hashtag less than 10% of that.

3) Make sure people know to use it. Let people know the hashtag, and use it often in your own tweets. As followers go by your example they may soon converse on their own about you, and the hashtag allows for easy monitoring.

Having customers talk to you via Twitter is good. When they follow you, it’s great. When they talk positively about you on Twitter or anywhere else, you strike gold.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and Facebook marketing. Clients include vendors of  organic mattresses, travel companies offering cheap European hotel reservations, Virginia health care services, Norfolk Realtors, global trade portals, and Gainesville bed and breakfast inns.

If you have dabbled in promotional tweeting to tout your products and services, you may have noticed other businesses follow the same path. Tweeting turns into repetitive sales pitches that get lost in the ether. Of the people you follow, the majority of re-tweeted messages come from comedians or companies taking advantage of paid tweeting, and only they know the effectiveness of such campaigns. To succeed in using Twitter as part of your online marketing, you need to focus not on how many people will get the message, but how many people will do something about it.

In other words, rather than blast out sales and codes ad nauseum, take a personal approaching to using Twitter and reaching people individually. Convert to sales one Twitter user at a time.

Okay, so how do you achieve this? First thing you want to do is set up a feed that tracks specific key phrases relevant to your business. Whether you are searching for people looking for hotel rooms, shoes, books, car rentals… eventually somebody is bound to ask the Twitterverse where he can find something. Check the feed regularly and weed out possible leads, then approach the user with a friendly greeting and an offer to help.

Now, as you use Twitter you want to have a client in place that alerts you immediately when you receive replies and direct messages. This allows you to remain timely in your one-on-one marketing. If you respond to Twitter users and disappear for eight hours, you aren’t much of a help. What if a reply goes unanswered and a competitor picks up the ball? For heavy-duty Twitter use, somebody on the team needs to watch the account.

When you are not directly approaching people on your account, use Twitter to humanize your business. Talk about what you are doing, what the weather is like outside the office… keep the narrative light-hearted, and even include an occasional third-party link to something interesting. Retweet followers where applicable, and always respond to mentions, regardless of whether they are friendly or harsh. People need to know there’s a person behind your social presence, and putting a genial attitude in your social media works to establish trust.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and Facebook marketing. Clients include vendors of  organic mattresses, travel companies offering cheap European hotel reservations, Virginia health care services, Norfolk Realtors, global trade portals, and Gainesville bed and breakfast inns.

Think about how you use social media in your business. What is the purpose of your Facebook page, your Twitter feed, your YouTube channel? The primary function for all, at first thought, is to disseminate information to current and future customers – videos demonstrate products and services, while short status updates alert people to last-minute deals and changes in shipping or availability. In addition to promoting your business, social media is an important tool for promoting your ability to handle your business. Direct answers to customer queries and feedback shows that not only are you perceptive to people’s needs, but you are willing to take action when needed. Given the immediacy of social media and the potential for viral PR (consider how quickly a complain about a business burns through Twitter now as opposed to the grapevines of old), you may have convinced yourself that social media does nothing but good for your company’s image.

It’s possible, but as with any other marketing method there are risks to take. One of the most important maxims to remember about online communication is that nobody can truly hear your voice over a computer – you can type out a status intending to be humorous and one person is bound to take your words the wrong way. That’s why it’s important to note how misuse of your social media can do damage, and know how to keep that from happening.

1) Don’t neglect your profiles. Answer comments and questions in a timely manner. This is not to say that you need to be on Twitter and Facebook 24/7, but if a customer has a question about a specific product it’s best not to leave them hanging for days on end. If you worry about missing new posts, there are ways you can set up for notifications to push through your mobile device or e-mail. That way you can keep track of any activity.

2) Don’t get defensive. You may have a number of people maintaining your social pages, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, it may open the door to the occasional shot from the hip when responding to a complaint. It is important for every administrator of your profiles know that every word posted represents the company, not one individual. As such, if a customer or potential customer is offended by an off remark he/she will only see your logo, and associate the bad experience with you. It is important, therefore, to handle delicate online situations with grace, expedience, and tact.

3) Don’t delete. Nobody likes a black mark on a Facebook wall – it’s the closest thing to an ugly bruise, and your first inclination may be to delete the post. Think about it, though – if the complaint is valid and not a trollish call for attention, you should use the opportunity to address publicly what you intend to do to resolve any problems. The plantiff will see how you are attentive, and others will realize that you are a company of value, one that listens.

Can social media ruin customer relations? Not if you know how to handle various situations, and use your profiles for more than straight advertising. Well-rounded profiles lead to the conversions you need.

Kathryn Lively is a social media specialist assisting clients with social media writing and Facebook marketing. Clients include vendors of  organic mattresses, travel companies offering cheap European hotel reservations, Virginia health care services, Norfolk Realtors, global trade portals, and Gainesville bed and breakfast inns.