Successful websites are characterized by sizeable flows of page traffic generated consistently through various Internet marketing techniques including social media marketing. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and WordPress maintain huge membership networks where people share information with one another daily. With the right strategy, anyone can drive massive volumes of traffic from a social network to his or her website or place of business.
Principle behind Social Media Marketing
While website traffic comes from sources all over the Internet, the highest concentration of Internet users are found in social media sites, particularly in Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Sharing information, videos, photos and links is a basic activity on these sites and is the primary force behind posts that have gone viral. The same system of sharing and interacting on these sites can be used to drive traffic to a website or business establishment.
Facebook Marketing
With over 700 million active members around the world, Facebook marketing should be in every Internet marketer’s toolkit. Facebook offers various applications which blend social interaction and business activities in just a few clicks. A person’s connections can “Like”, leave a comment or “Share” anything published on one’s profile or fan page.
Using Facebook for business requires a plan for generating quality links to a website.
* Put a face to your business or profile page by using your own photo as your avatar.
* Interact anywhere on Facebook as your business page. This builds product or business awareness every time you engage with other pages.
* Write an engaging “hello” message to new ‘fans’ or connections without advertising your business immediately. Internet users are generally averse to obvious self promotion which appears on their Facebook walls or news feeds.
Building trust in your connections must precede any attempt to conduct business with them.
* Create Internet content in your website or in YouTube and embed the video or share the URL of fresh content on your Facebook wall. This generates an active link from Facebook to your website.
This network is primarily for business and professional activities where connections include colleagues in the same industry. LinkedIn has sharing capabilities which allow members to share links to portfolios, websites and documents hosted in Box.net.
Other social media sites include Twitter which is a micro blogging site for broadcasting news, updates, and links to new content published in a website.
Generating site traffic takes time. By implementing social media strategies for growing connections and promoting more “Likes”, your increasing number of followers can make your web page viral by sharing its link on your behalf.
