Ways to Use Social Media to Market

There are different ways to use social media to market your business. Some may use it in conjunction their website or use it in place of a website. However you use it, the end goal is the same: attract customers to your product. Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs, list 50 ways of using social media to market. This can be a beneficial list for marketers as well as small businesses. That's the best part about using social media to market! Everyone from individuals looking to start a business to large corporations can use social media to reach out and attract customers. If you looking to use social media in this way, I hope this reading helps!

50 Ways Marketers Can Use Social Media to Improve Their Marketing

Using Twitter to Market

Twitter is one of the most used social media sites today. It allows people to post short, 140 character max, post in which followers can read. Many people use Twitter to post status reports, for example "I'm going to the game!" or "My team just lost!". Many businesses have begun using Twitter as a way to market. Below are some examples of businesses that use Twitter. Also below is a great study done by 360i. It is an extensive study about Twitter & the Consumer Marketer Dynamic. It has a lot of good information about Twitter that can come in handy if you are planning on using Twitter to market your business.

Coca-Cola
Micosoft
Verizon

360i Twitter Study

Non-Profits and Social Media

Non-profit organizations benefit from using social media sites. Since there is no or low cost in using social media, non-profit organizations can connect to other organizations and supporters easily. According to SocialTimes.com, out of 200 charities surveyed, "97 percent are using social media. Breaking down the numbers further the findings show that 93 percent of charities use Facebook, 87 percent use Twitter, and 65 percent have a blog." Below are 2 sites that touch on the subject of Non-profit organizations and social media. The first link gives tips and resources on using Facebook for your non-profit and the second give a list of non-profits that use Twitter.

Using Facebook for Your Non-Profit

26 Charities and Non-Profits on Twitter

Business Blogs

Blogs have been around for a few years now and it seems like most people have blogs ranging from personal journals to sounding boards where they can voice their opinions about a variety of topics. Blogs are also being used by businesses to connect with their employees and customers. Blogs can really come in handy for small businesses who rely a lot on word-of-mouth marketing. Blogs can be used to advertise a new product, give customers a look into future plans for the company, or just have customers post feed back on the company's products. Blogs are a good way to stay connected. Below are a couple of articles which touch more on this subject. Enjoy!

BusinessWeek.com Article

Forbes.com Article

LinkedIn: Professional Social Networking

There are many socail networking sites available for people to join. Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace are some major ones that come to mind. LinkedIn is another one which focuses more on professional networking than personal. LinkedIn states that "your professional network of trusted contacts gives you an advantage in your career, and is one of your most valuable assets. LinkedIn exists to help you make better use of your professional network and help the people you trust in return. Our mission is to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful. We believe that in a global connected economy, your success as a professional and your competitiveness as a company depends upon faster access to insight and resources you can trust."

LinkedIn is a good site for marketing businesses as well. This week, LinkedIn introduced a feature called Company Pages. According to an article from CNNMoney.com, "The new feature, called Company Pages, is designed to give companies exposure to LinkedIn's over 80 million members, while also giving users access to insight from other professionals in the network."

LinkedIn can be a valuable assest for professionals and businesses looking to market their business with social media.

The popularity of social media has grown by leaps and bounds just within the past few years. According to Facebook, there are 500 million active users! This is fertile ground for companies to market their business. Many businesses have already taken advantage of Facebook, as well as Twitter, marketing. You can look at a variety of businesses (i.e. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper) and see that they have Facebook and/or Twitter sites. BrianSolis.com has an article that talks a little about the amount of users who use social media sites as well how much spending consumers do online.

Facebook and Twitter users spend 1.5x more online than the average Internet user

A Brief Timeline of Social Media

CNNMoney.com offers an article that offers a brief timeline of social media. From 2002 through today, social media has grown from a site which offered users a "cookie cutter" page format with minimal editablility to sites that users control every aspect of formating. Along with this, popularity has grown to the point where almost everyone and every business has at least one social media site presence. Social media sites offer users the ability to connect with others in a way never before seen. This article touches a little about this as well as provides a brief introduction and history of social media.

Aww, social networking is growing up