Social media is an efficient marketing tool particularly for small businesses. It can be used to create buzz around your products, create brand awareness and even increase your direct sales. But the most common complain that we hear from people marketing on social media is that they don't get the enthusiastic response they expected to get from social web.
The root of the problem lies in the understanding of the basic structure of the social web and how people interact on these social platforms. They are not just ordinary websites where you would upload something and people would just come and click on it. Instead this is the web design that is driven by the interaction among the users. This means that you don't post, you share. You collect friends, contacts, followers and fans. These are your social contacts who share the stuff you share. But how do you make them share your stuff?
1. Be Friendly
Just like the every day world, a smile and a friendly gesture can help you win the hearts of people. In terms of social websites you need to be friendly on your profiles and take interest in other people's activities on their social networks. Ask them a good question, comment on their status updates, tag them and listen to them.
2. Be Generous
It is ok to be greedy as long as you are generous in allowing other people to be as greedy as you are. Generously share the content that other people are posting on their profiles and help them achieve their goals. This generosity will help your social contacts to take notice of your activities and they would return the favor. Even if they don't just remember that you will be noticed by them and this helps you with your brand recognition goals.
3. Target Right Groups
With so many people online it is not very useful for you to randomly act thousands of people into your contacts without knowing them. The best practice is to target people that have an interest in the products and services you are offering. To find these people you can search the profiles, or groups, fan pages or posts that revolve around the topics that match your niche.
