The big mystery is how to turn Social Media friendships into business results....
I have been using many SEO techniques to have the highest single trafficked Kansas City real estate agent website. I have now adapted new marketing techniques with social media to gain a 1st page listing on Google on my top 5 keywords.
In the late 90’s I had a discussion with a realtor.com salesperson. They felt that their plan was a much better marketing plan and that Search Engine Optimization was too difficult. Lets fast forward to 2010. Realtor.com gets less than 6% of the real estate web traffic and my $5000 I spent with them has yielded me very little business.
I’m going to spill the beans and share a plan on how you can see the same success.
This may appear to be basic for some who read this Blog, however my experience has been that most Kansas City business people have not yet designed a plan to make sure they are being found online. Some Kansas City business people have good intentions, set up a few sites and forget them. This is worse than not having any profiles at all.
The guidelines below can be expanded over time; however, it’s just a plan to get you started in the right direction. Remember that your goal is “....to drive traffic to your websites, your services, and develop relationships that will result into a face-to-face contact.”
Nearly everything below is free or very affordable, however you must be willing to invest the time for setup and a certain amount of time every day to work your plan. If you’re not willing to do that, then hire someone to set you up and assist you to get started or don’t do it at all. This is by no means an overnight success for getting found online. If you don’t think you need it, just go “Google yourself” (Google search your name inside quotation marks) and do some soul searching about your future.
I have been using many SEO techniques to have the highest single trafficked Kansas City real estate agent website. I have now adapted new marketing techniques with social media to gain a 1st page listing on Google on my top 5 keywords.
In the late 90’s I had a discussion with a realtor.com salesperson. They felt that their plan was a much better marketing plan and that Search Engine Optimization was too difficult. Lets fast forward to 2010. Realtor.com gets less than 6% of the real estate web traffic and my $5000 I spent with them has yielded me very little business.
I’m going to spill the beans and share a plan on how you can see the same success.
This may appear to be basic for some who read this Blog, however my experience has been that most Kansas City business people have not yet designed a plan to make sure they are being found online. Some Kansas City business people have good intentions, set up a few sites and forget them. This is worse than not having any profiles at all.
The guidelines below can be expanded over time; however, it’s just a plan to get you started in the right direction. Remember that your goal is “....to drive traffic to your websites, your services, and develop relationships that will result into a face-to-face contact.”
Nearly everything below is free or very affordable, however you must be willing to invest the time for setup and a certain amount of time every day to work your plan. If you’re not willing to do that, then hire someone to set you up and assist you to get started or don’t do it at all. This is by no means an overnight success for getting found online. If you don’t think you need it, just go “Google yourself” (Google search your name inside quotation marks) and do some soul searching about your future.
Checkout Part 1 that included the steps.
10 Effective Ways to Use Social Media Effectively for your Kansas City Business
1) Promote or pimp businesses that will refer you business- Don’t overly self-promote yourself .
2) Include links in your post to interesting sites. Not just to your sites.
3) Follow positive people who are willing to help you- Don’t follow just anyone and everyone - I learned this the hard way. I have over 4,000 friends on Facebook. It maybe hard to believe, but I actually have not accepted over 5,000 people. Why? Many had an agenda, some where time hogs and others self-promoted themselves. I’m like everyone else. What is in it for me!
4) Establish a personality- your social media friends want to see your personality, views and opinions. Have you ever had that bland friend who had no opinions and couldn’t decide on anything? That’s right, your social media friends don’t like it also.
5) Interact with other users- Social media isn’t about selling. It is about connecting. No one wants to buy until they get to like and trust you.
6) Monitor the chatter about your business- Use resources like Hootsuite to see what people are saying about your business name. If you had a restaurant and someone tweeted: “Service was slow and the food was cold, I wouldn’t recommend”. Wouldn’t you like to know.
7) Customize your profiles- Too many times I see that people haven’t completed their social media profiles and that turns most people off. The only people you’ll attract will be your friends and family. Is that what you want?
8) If you intend to use social media. Post a comment, question, link or interesting data daily- Posting once a week will not cut it.
9) Share your social media profiles on other social media channels and on your website- A great way to do this is with badges and most social media platforms have badges.
10) Find the influencers - Get the influencers to pimp out your products and services. If a no name person bragged about your services it probably wouldn’t affect your business right? Now if the LeBron James bragged about you and your business on a live tv interiew and said that the reason he is so successful was because of your business, don’t you think that would affect your business?
Feeling like there is to much to do or you have questions, feel free to read my “Why Social Media Ebook for Kansas City Businesses.” It is Free!
10 Effective Ways to Use Social Media Effectively for your Kansas City Business
1) Promote or pimp businesses that will refer you business- Don’t overly self-promote yourself .
2) Include links in your post to interesting sites. Not just to your sites.
3) Follow positive people who are willing to help you- Don’t follow just anyone and everyone - I learned this the hard way. I have over 4,000 friends on Facebook. It maybe hard to believe, but I actually have not accepted over 5,000 people. Why? Many had an agenda, some where time hogs and others self-promoted themselves. I’m like everyone else. What is in it for me!
4) Establish a personality- your social media friends want to see your personality, views and opinions. Have you ever had that bland friend who had no opinions and couldn’t decide on anything? That’s right, your social media friends don’t like it also.
5) Interact with other users- Social media isn’t about selling. It is about connecting. No one wants to buy until they get to like and trust you.
6) Monitor the chatter about your business- Use resources like Hootsuite to see what people are saying about your business name. If you had a restaurant and someone tweeted: “Service was slow and the food was cold, I wouldn’t recommend”. Wouldn’t you like to know.
7) Customize your profiles- Too many times I see that people haven’t completed their social media profiles and that turns most people off. The only people you’ll attract will be your friends and family. Is that what you want?
8) If you intend to use social media. Post a comment, question, link or interesting data daily- Posting once a week will not cut it.
9) Share your social media profiles on other social media channels and on your website- A great way to do this is with badges and most social media platforms have badges.
10) Find the influencers - Get the influencers to pimp out your products and services. If a no name person bragged about your services it probably wouldn’t affect your business right? Now if the LeBron James bragged about you and your business on a live tv interiew and said that the reason he is so successful was because of your business, don’t you think that would affect your business?
Feeling like there is to much to do or you have questions, feel free to read my “Why Social Media Ebook for Kansas City Businesses.” It is Free!
Are you doing anything using the media above that I didn’t mention? Please share your tips in the comments below.
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1 Comments
I agree about social media being a good tool for online marketing. But if you don't know what you're doing, it can actually hurt your campaign instead of helping.
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