Social media enhances online marketing opportunities
One of the biggest developments in online marketing has been the rapid growth of social media websites. Social media sites are websites that allow users to do a variety of things, typically in an interactive way. The capabilities and tools offered by each site vary, but common elements including the ability to post articles, news, video, and other resources, as well as network with friends and find partners. Plus, many of the top social media venues allow your customers the opportunity to be updated or to follow your site content each time something new is posted.
Digg.com was one of the earliest broad social media sites that offer a wide array of features and marketing possibilities. The site allows users to post web content that they believe would appeal to site users. Content can be submitted in a variety of categories, including news, politics, sports, entertainment, business, and many more. Once submitted, other users can read the submission and then ‘digg it’, if they find it useful or entertainment. Users can also ‘sink’ a bad submission (which is rare) and comment on items they are especially intrigued by.
The real potential to drive traffic to an external site comes from submissions that are published either to category main pages, or better yet, the website.s main page. Late news, unimportant information, or hard to find articles, might be lucky to get just a few votes. To truly leverage the ‘social’ components and advantages of these sites, a user has to network, make friends, join groups, and have people waiting to ‘digg’ new submissions. The sites that benefit the most from this submission and approval process are those that reach the higher traffic main pages.
Digg.com is not the only popular or successful social media site. MySpace and Facebook are tremendously successful social sites that have large membership, which includes a mostly younger population. Many businesses use these social sites to network and grow. These sites allow users to post information and updates, build relationships, post media, including promotional videos, sound bytes, and more.
Some of the other popular sites that offer a variety of social networking opportunities include Propeller.com and Ximmy.com, which are similar to digg.com, in their make ups. Each enables users to post content, vote or rate submissions, and network by making friends or joining groups. Twitter is another fast-growing medium in which users can ‘tweet’ or offer updates on a variety of topics. Some people use it to simply tell friends what is going on. Businesses often use it to post news, new items, events, and more.
There are some rules of etiquette that must be observed by social media users. While companies can submit their own content, there are some spamming and ethical issues that must be considered. It is important to read the rules of submission and participation of each site to avoid violating policies, being banned, and hurting your reputation.
Along with the content sharing and networking benefits of social media sites, there are some other significant internet marketing advantages. Many of the largest social media sites have high Google rankings. Thus, by placing an article hosted at your site on a social media site, your article page, on that media site, is likely to turn up reasonably high when web users to searches related to it. Social media sites, as they hold tons of content and Google-friendly traits, typically perform well in searches. Users can use ‘technorati tags’ with submissions to highlight key names and topics that improve the chances of your articles being found.
An additional benefit of social media submissions are link backs. The real benefit of social media link backs may vary, but search engine optimization is impacted greatly by the amount of external website links that send people to your site. Most social media submissions implant your website URL, which is part of the profile set up during the registration process. There are also some that offer other potential chances to include permalinks within the article or content submission.
What businesses can benefit from the use of social media marketing? Any company that relies on an online presence for marketing or sales should explore the opportunities with social media. Increased consumer awareness, direct marketing, and sales conversions are some of the direct business benefits that can be enhanced through social media networking.