When it comes to online business services, did you know that according to our friends at econsultancy.com, social network interaction and blog reading represent the fourth most popular online activities, beating out personal e-mail. As much as 10% of all the time spent on the Internet is spent on 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. If this doesn’t show you how important social media is in our collective lives, what will? Just as it is important for you to “be” on Facebook, you must maintain a proactive presence on Twitter as well.
Twitter really occupies its own niche and is essentially a micro-blogging engine. 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. Those who are serious about this medium create a targeted background design rather than the generic offering, set up their profiles and links correctly and really consider how to build followers. It is possible to accurately target followers (using keyword research and other tools) who have a vested interest in your particular niche. This, like Facebook, requires regular maintenance and management for best effect. Messages sent through Twitter are known as tweets and you should be sure to get online and interact in this way, once again on a daily basis, as well as checking and responding to direct messages. Note that the vast majority of members, corporate or otherwise, do not meaningfully interact through this medium and are certainly missing out. By making a big effort to set it all up and then committing to management, you can really take advantage of this fabulous new medium.
The world of Internet marketing is obviously dynamic, but it has changed almost beyond recognition in the last few years. Since the effective arrival of “web 2.0” and the social media revolution, marketing online has become much more of a subtle and thoughtful approach. 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. By linking between your blog and your main sales hub, even if it means creating a subdomain within your website development to host the blog, you maintain separation while also taking into account potential sales.
You need to think about your very core operations. Education is critical as you expose your products or services to prospects. You may know how great your offerings are and may be convinced that they represent a great bargain for people out there in the real world. It’s your job to brand your organisation as the expert in its field. Create and maintain a well-designed, professionally presented blog. 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, a highly-qualified Executive Virtual Assistant Service which helps businesses and individuals accomplish every detail of their professional aspirations. Want to discover more about these insightful online business building success strategies? Contact VMF Today!