During a recent review on online business services at econsultancy.com, it was revealed that blog reading and social network activities represent the fourth most popular activity online, even more interesting than e-mail. 10% of the time that we spend when interacting on the web is spent within social media sites. As a measure of the importance of social media sites, search engine giant Bing revealed that second in its list of the top 10 world trends for the year was Twitter. This just goes to show the sheer level of interest in social media and in this case, the new boy on the block Twitter. We have already indicated that Facebook is essential and we suggest that you must pro-actively figure in Twitter to your lives as well.
Twitter has been widely referred to as a micro-blog and has really found its own niche. As you know, this medium allows you to send short status messages, and it has really caught on within the business world. Companies can keep in touch with clients, publicly handle customer relationship issues and generally reveal a level of visibility that is quite unique.
A Twitter presence for your online initiative should be more than just a straightforward account. For example, create a dedicated background design and never accept the generic offerings and profile settings offered by Twitter, while also configuring your links correctly and deciding how you are going to build a followers list. There are a number of tools available to you, many based on straightforward keyword research, enabling you to accurately target people who have said they are interested in your niche. Once again, as with Facebook, management and maintenance of your Twitter account will take a concerted effort. You should allocate time, ideally again on a daily basis, to create meaningful messages, a.k.a. tweets, and interact with others through direct messages. If you think this is quite a lot of work, just realise that a majority of corporate members do not meaningfully interact through these mediums, and you can set yourself apart. You should aim to be one of the educated few, who really take advantage of what this fantastic medium has to offer.
The world of Internet marketing is obviously dynamic, but it has changed almost beyond recognition in the last few years. Web 2.0 heralded the arrival of the social media revolution and this changed the very mindset of marketers online. Great emphasis is now placed on establishing your operation and your name, so that you are viewed as expert and authoritative. When you interact through social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, do be careful as you go about it - and rarely, if ever, approach prospects with a hard sell. It is highly recommended that you maintain a blog in addition to your main sales site. You can certainly link them and you can even create a subdomain within your website development to actually host your blog, but you should maintain an element of separation.
Consider your core operation. Education is critical as you expose your products or services to prospects. You certainly have no problem in convincing yourself how much of a deal your products represent, but remember that people in the real world know nothing about them, as yet. However, you need to convince others and this is where you must establish yourself and your organisation as experts. A blog is so important and must be well-designed, thought out and presented professionally. You can use a content management system or website development platform such as Wordpress, the leader in this field, as you establish your presence.
Michelle Dale is The Managing Director of Virtual Miss Friday, an accomplished Executive Virtual Assistant Service which helps companies of all sizes reach their commercial targets. Want to get more information about online business building success strategies that really work? Contact VMF today!