Social networking is a well known saying used to illustrate the usage of online social networks (like, for instance, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr etc), online communities and discussion boards, blogs as well as other collaborative Internet forums for marketing, sales promotion, public relations and customer support etc. Businesses, whether online or traditional, are increasingly realizing that promoting their website and business through social media is a powerful strategy that gets them links, attention and, above all, an enormous amount of quality traffic at an inexpensive.
Social marketing is definitely an effective low-cost adjunct to conventional website promotion strategies like link exchanges, search advertising or the purchase of banner and editorial ads on relevant sites; providing natural or spontaneous links to large sets of people (minus the suspicious commercial overtones of paid advertising!). It really is a low-cost/high-return strategy, which many a time may involve only the price of your time and effort and this of getting a freelance programmer or designer instead of spending large amounts on regular internet advertising methods.
Social media marketing is normally community-specific and enables you to target a particular list of people with common interests (which will normally support your marketing objectives) without disturbing other ways of getting traffic to your website. Very importantly, social media networks, by permitting user participation then one-to-one interactions (rather than sending conventional promotional messages) really helps to build consumer confidence and trust, probably the most important ingredients for just about any successful online marketing programme. Such confidence and trust also allows internet marketers to utilize viral marketing techniques where their marketing messages are replicated through user-to-user contacts!
A highly effective social networking strategy, besides getting people to your site, has other important secondary benefits. For example, many search engine listings give importance to the amount of incoming links an internet site has, while ranking it; and the large number of spontaneous links from websites of social networking members helps to improve your rankings. This is especially vital for brand new websites which might find it difficult initially to gain links through conventional means.
A fascinating development in the internet marketing space associated with social media marketing is that many sites include features where companies can make profiles (Facebook, as an example, allows companies to produce ‘pages’) where users could become ‘fans’ of the company; its products; services etc. As increasing numbers of businesses, particularly retailers, turn to the Internet and social media to bolster waning sales in the face of any global downturn in the economy, social networking sites may likely end up being the next major retail destination. A newly released 2009 survey has indicated that companies in the us are spending close to 3.5% with their marketing budgets on social media which is likely to increase to around 13.7% within five-years.
One of the greatest advantages of social media (unlike other online strategies like search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising etc) is that you can easily implement; something everyone is able to do with some effort and data!
We hear a lot that a lot of the revenue generated on the internet is through marketing and advertisements. But exactly how will it actually work? Exactly what are the myths and the facts? Would internet advertising generate enough revenue that you may have a livelihood out of that? How does one strategize to make the best from online advertising?
For many of us, the suggestions above seems vague. We hear a few names like Google AdSense, SEO, etc. but just how does all that combine? How easy or difficult is the field of online advertising and marketing? Let’s take a look at some important points regarding online marketing and advertising.
Build and maintain the visibility of your own website within the major search engines vlflgl you do have a better possibility of success. The bottom line is using a strategic marketing idea in position rather than simply trying to optimize the content.
Online media buying is a complex field and launching an internet campaign, although may appear to be a more affordable option actually gets more difficult as time progresses. Make a media plan first before venturing into this industry.