Social media is AWESOME. Seriously.

How long have you been in the online business game? If you’re like me, you’ve been at it for a few years. And in these few years, we’ve seen A LOT happen. We’ve seen “Web 2.0” come then leave. We’ve seen Myspace follow the same path. And we’ve seen Facebook pick up the ball, and usher us into the social era.

It’s an amazing time to be an online business owner. Social media has redefined the niche. Just a few years ago, there were businesses deemed “too niche”. However, with social media, there are communities for just about ANYTHING. And with a community comes people who are willing to buy if the value is right.

Of course, all this doesn’t matter if you’re not utilizing the awesome power presented by social media. That’s why in this article, I’ll be going over a few tips that can really help take your business to the next level socially.

Create Value Consistently

I’d feel like I was beating a dead horse here, but I don’t, because this is so important. In order to utilize the power offered by social media, you MUST be creating incredible value.

This is how the social web works. You create something of value. Then someone visits your website and “consumes” it. If they truly get value out of it, they feel the natural human urge to share it with the people they know. Social media has ensured that one person can have a MASSIVE effect. One person shares something, then thousands have the opportunity to read and potentially share. It creates a snowball that can lead to MILLIONS of people reading your content/buying your product.

But it all starts with that initial value: the initial value you provide. If that isn’t there, the process doesn’t start.

So, spend some time learning what your users want, and then create it. Content is king, as it has been said before, so knowing how to interact with your audience through words is crucial to your success. Some people do not realize that images play a significant part of social media interaction as well. You may have written something of value, but how will you get them to read it? Images can draw a reader in, make them curious as to the content that is behind the image, just be careful that your image matches your content, otherwise you have lost a reader, probably for good.

Images alone are not enough; you have to have a great title. A great title will compel the reader to click through to the article. Again, make sure the title matched the content. Do not promise something in a title that cannot be delivered, this is considered spammy, and users hate spam.

Interact personally with your community

With social media, it’s very easy to build a community. If your website gets even a trickle of traffic, you can put up a “like” button on your site, and people will start to like your Facebook page. At this point, you literally have a community.

The true power of social media is the level of interaction you can get with individual customers. As soon as you start building a following, start providing value!

One way I’ve seen bloggers and business owners do this is by sharing inspirational quotes and images on their page, every day. Let’s face it – life can get tough. But an inspirational quote at the right time can really turn around a bad day. So people love getting these random inspirational quotes. Pick something that relates to your business and share it consistently. This will help your followers relate to your business on a more personal level.

Use 1:1 Interaction

If you begin posting content to your following on social media networks, you’ll eventually get some interaction. Maybe it’s a comment. Maybe it’s a “like”. Maybe it’s a “tweet”. Regardless, when that happens, write a personalized, heartfelt message back to the person who made it happen. Tell them how much you appreciate their comment, and address whatever they mentioned.

Make sure your followers know that it’s a real human being behind the social media pages… not some faceless “company”.

Social media can be a very cold place for businesses if they do not use it correctly. The main goal is to create a comfortable and trustworthy environment that will engage people and make them loyal to your brand.

The world has become very cold through the Internet and social media. At first, people loved the convenience and did not worry about the cold feeling, it was all worth it. Today, the technology has become even more intense, creating an even colder environment for people, but they still believe the convenience is worth it, but they are looking for a connection again. This is where social media comes into play. People do not call and talk to each other anymore, instead, they text or post on social media sites. So, how do you join in? Simple, start interacting with them, they are craving human contact, so give them some.

You can leave comments on other pages, like pages, and share posts to begin the interaction. Stick to like-minded businesses or people to build a solid foundation for your community. Post often and I do mean often. You should be posting a minimum 5 posts per week on your social media websites. There are so many competitors out there; the last you want is for your business to be forgotten simply because you didn’t post enough.

Closing Thoughts

It’s funny… we have articles on this site that talk about how important it is to use social media platforms, and they’re only a few years old. At this point, though, those articles aren’t necessary, because it’s so OBVIOUS how important social media is.

Although it may be obvious that social media is important, many online business owners still aren’t getting as much out of it as they could be. It’s our hope that the tips in this article can help you take your business to the next level.

One of the issues that I feel should be pointed out in this article is this; AVOID SALES COPY when posting. You want to provide your users with relevant information surrounding your topic. This helps build authority and trust. If you shout out sales mumbo jumbo all day long, they will look at you as spam and delete you from their pages. It’s ok to post something when it is relevant. Maybe you are having a sale and want to let everyone know, that’s fine, as long as it is less than 10% of your postings. If you have something new, of course, tell them, but send out an article that supports why the product is great, something informative that lets people know it is useful. 

Consider this, you are a health website, and you primarily sell vitamins. Well, you got in a new shipment of fish oil vitamins, or maybe they are on sale. If you plan to post about it, also post something else useful. An article on why fish oil is good for you would suffice, but you could get even more detailed for better coverage of a topic, such as an article on how fish oil reduces hair loss, or how it can help decrease the age of your skin and make you young and beautiful again, or maybe one on how fish oil can help you lose weight. All of these topics have specific users that will find them useful, so shout out to specific groups with your messages for the most attention. The general posts are great, but when you want a direct hit, you aim for a target.

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