Are You Using Basic Social Media Well?

If you want to create influence or build your business, you have to use the tools you have available properly. Social media is a great tool. Social media has become a marketers dream come true. When it first hit the scene a few years ago, you mostly found people chatting about their interests, connecting with people who had the same past-times and writers looking to connect. Business owners soon realized their audience was getting on board with social media, and the rest, as they say, is history. Here are some basics that are overlooked when using social media.

Include main keyword in title.

Let’s say for example that you are running an online shop that sells cosmetic products specifically targeted to Asian women. What do you think is the main keyword for your business? Here are some good guesses: cosmetics for Asian women, Asian cosmetics, and cosmetics in Asia. Whatever is your main keyword, it is important that you include it in your main title. So how do you figure out which main keyword you should use? You can use the online tool AdWord to help you find the best keyword for your business. If you do this correctly, your Youtube video will rank high in Google search results.

Choose a catchy title.

Even if your video manages to appear on the top ten search results of Google, it is up to the user if he will click the link to your video or not. So how can you make sure that users will click your video once it appears in their Google search results? One way is to give your video a really catchy title. It should not be very fancy. The title simply have to project the impression “Hey, I have the information you are looking for so click me”.

Use all possible related tags.

Many people fail to maximize the use of this Youtube feature. In fact, many people do not use this feature at all! So what are tags? Tags are one-word keywords that Youtube allows you to attach to each video that you upload. Make sure that you include all related tags to make your video more visible.

Thumbnail should be appetizing.

When your video appears in the search results of Youtube and Google, it will be shown as a video thumbnail. The thumbnail is usually the video’s first frame. Make sure that your video’s thumbnail is appealing to users by placing a good first frame to your video. When it comes to cosmetic products for example, a thumbnail showing a beautiful woman’s face with a smooth and blemish-free skin would be good.

Provide links in the description box.

Youtube allows you to write a description for every video that you will upload. And the good part is that Youtube’s description box can hold a live link. Take advantage of this feature and provide links to your main webpage or specific page in your website that shows the specific product that you are featuring in the video. Add some description like this: for more information about this product/to place an order, visit this link.

Add related channels as friends.

Youtube allows you to add other Youtube account holders as friends. Now here is what you need to do: think of which organizations or which popular Youtube channels are closely related to your field and then add them as friends. If you are selling women’s makeup for example, you might want to add channels that post video tutorials on doing makeup. This is because most of your target customers are likely to be visiting these channels. You want to expose your channel to them.

Provide only a ‘peek’ to the whole story.

Your posts should be enticing but they should never completely satisfy the curiosity of the readers. You want them to ‘beg for more’. And then, you should provide a link to where they can go to satisfy their curiosity. For example, you should post only the opening of an article from your main website. Then provide a link to where they can read the whole story.

Post ‘fun stuffs’ once in a while.

Because the Facebook page is for your business, it is only proper that all your posts will be about your company’s activities, products, services, and such. But your posts should not only consist of these. You should spice things up by posting interesting articles and materials once in a while. This way, your subscribers will keep going back to your page. If it always just about business, things will start to get boring.

Establish a network of ‘useful’ affiliates.

Like pages that are related to your field. If you are selling computer games or computer game hardware for example, you should like pages that discuss games in general. This way, you are making yourself visible to the subscribers of those pages. They will learn about your page, visit your page, and maybe click some of the links on your page.

Put up a product catalogue with links.

This is another beauty of Facebook – you get to upload photos and organize them into folders. Take advantage of this and make a photo catalogue showing your products (with features and description if possible). Then include a link below each photo where they can order the product. The links will also increase your main website’s number of backlinks.

Reply to queries, give only partial answers, and then provide a link.

If you get a question about your products/services, do reply. But only give a general answer. Do not give all the details. Then provide a link to your main website where the rest of the answer can be found.

Master the art of member management.

There will always be detractors – users who will post negative things on your social media page. You must know how to deal with them properly. But do not be hasty on banning them from your page. If you do, other users will think that you are in fact guilty of the accusations. Instead, you should simply make a convincing reply to all negative remarks. Be polite and informative. But there are cases in which ‘banning’ might be the only option. If a user is repetitively making negative comments or if the comment is too gross, banning can become an option for you. Social media can do wonders for many businesses. Every business is different. Your goals are different. Your target market is different. Your products and services are different. Your expertise is different. But doing the basics well can help anyone.