Social Networking for Business
We have been working to revamp our system and make the site more user friendly. As I was researching ways to draw visitors to the site two words kept popping up all over the place: Social Networking...
We have certainly entered a new age of advertising considering this is 2012 and its a rare find to meet someone or to look for a business that isn't facebooking, tweeting, instagraming, or pinning things. Who wouldn't want to be connected with the simple click of a friend request? You have instant access to generous amounts of information provided by a user effortlessly as well as an easy connection to spread the word and share your information.
Using social networking for business would seem easy from an outside person but there are a lot of do's and dont's from what I understand. Forbes has an article written regarding the Ten Myths About Social Networking for Business that I would like to highlight a few key points from as well as a few of my own insights...
The link is : HERE
1. It isn't so easy to advertise to a market if your target customers aren't on facebook. In the packaging world there are a lot of behind the scenes manufacturing plants who don't generally spend time social networking. How can you reach out to these types of companies? Try SEO! Fill your site with keywords that can come up in organic google searches. This is the best way to increase traffic in your website and decrease bounce rates.
2. You don't have to hire outside help to assist with your social networking. It can be time consuming depending on how involved you'd like to be. Sure, you could have someone full time retweeting and repinning but you don't have to! Daily updates and a few responses a day can really help a lot. Offer a discount or an entry in a contest for promoting your page! People love FREE and people love PRIZES. We operate a packaging supply company, online, so I create promotion codes for each type of advertising I'm doing. It's a great way to track the traffic into orders from each source.
3. Don't just use social networking as a bullhorn - Get people involved. That is key! As I stated before hold a contest for free products with an exchange of a little shout out or a sign up via facebook!
4. Blogging is important! Very simple to do, usually free, and it gives you a medium to discuss industry specific topics with your customers. I personally believe its a great morale builder. How many times have you gone to a website from a search engine search and you were looking to make a purchase? Now how many times have you been directed to a site that isn't a name brand? These sites are generally the ones with the best pricing but some might seem iffy at first glance. It is proven that if customers can verify that a real live person is available to assist with an issues of ordering or that if your site has customer reviews from real customers buyers are more likely to purchase from you. It's perceived safer to purchase from the big names - We need to break that way of thinking.
5. You don't have to use EVERY social networking available. Focus your efforts. If you don't have a lot of time to spend daily on networking it would make more sense to have a facebook and a twitter rather than 50 different memberships that you inevitably begin to neglect due to lack of time. If you have a solid following on any given site that trumps having a minimal following on 50 different sites.
Please visit our social networking pages using the links below. They've been undergoing some remodeling so don't mind the dust! Send us a tweet or a 'Like' on Facebook and we will gladly send you a shout out or a like back! Let the social networking begin!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pkgingcom
Twitter: www.twitter.com/pkging
Thank you for reading.
I will keep you updated with new information on the industry and every day life as we are going to be blogging more frequently.
We have certainly entered a new age of advertising considering this is 2012 and its a rare find to meet someone or to look for a business that isn't facebooking, tweeting, instagraming, or pinning things. Who wouldn't want to be connected with the simple click of a friend request? You have instant access to generous amounts of information provided by a user effortlessly as well as an easy connection to spread the word and share your information.
Using social networking for business would seem easy from an outside person but there are a lot of do's and dont's from what I understand. Forbes has an article written regarding the Ten Myths About Social Networking for Business that I would like to highlight a few key points from as well as a few of my own insights...
The link is : HERE
1. It isn't so easy to advertise to a market if your target customers aren't on facebook. In the packaging world there are a lot of behind the scenes manufacturing plants who don't generally spend time social networking. How can you reach out to these types of companies? Try SEO! Fill your site with keywords that can come up in organic google searches. This is the best way to increase traffic in your website and decrease bounce rates.
2. You don't have to hire outside help to assist with your social networking. It can be time consuming depending on how involved you'd like to be. Sure, you could have someone full time retweeting and repinning but you don't have to! Daily updates and a few responses a day can really help a lot. Offer a discount or an entry in a contest for promoting your page! People love FREE and people love PRIZES. We operate a packaging supply company, online, so I create promotion codes for each type of advertising I'm doing. It's a great way to track the traffic into orders from each source.
3. Don't just use social networking as a bullhorn - Get people involved. That is key! As I stated before hold a contest for free products with an exchange of a little shout out or a sign up via facebook!
4. Blogging is important! Very simple to do, usually free, and it gives you a medium to discuss industry specific topics with your customers. I personally believe its a great morale builder. How many times have you gone to a website from a search engine search and you were looking to make a purchase? Now how many times have you been directed to a site that isn't a name brand? These sites are generally the ones with the best pricing but some might seem iffy at first glance. It is proven that if customers can verify that a real live person is available to assist with an issues of ordering or that if your site has customer reviews from real customers buyers are more likely to purchase from you. It's perceived safer to purchase from the big names - We need to break that way of thinking.
5. You don't have to use EVERY social networking available. Focus your efforts. If you don't have a lot of time to spend daily on networking it would make more sense to have a facebook and a twitter rather than 50 different memberships that you inevitably begin to neglect due to lack of time. If you have a solid following on any given site that trumps having a minimal following on 50 different sites.
Please visit our social networking pages using the links below. They've been undergoing some remodeling so don't mind the dust! Send us a tweet or a 'Like' on Facebook and we will gladly send you a shout out or a like back! Let the social networking begin!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pkgingcom
Twitter: www.twitter.com/pkging
Thank you for reading.
I will keep you updated with new information on the industry and every day life as we are going to be blogging more frequently.
posted by PKGING.com | 12:22 PM
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