It’s no secret that social networking sites are a great way to tap into your target market and build more traffic and sales. Twitter and Facebook have both made it possible for marketers to reach potential buyers in brand-new ways. Social marketing breaks through the barriers and decreases resistance. You’ll actually have a higher ROI with campaigns with your social media contacts than campaigns sent to the general public. Since you’ve taken the time to build trust with them, they’ll be more likely to buy from you.
Although twitter and Facebook are definitely the most popular social media sites for Internet marketing, this doesn’t mean that they are the be all and end all of social networking. LinkedIn is another high-traffic social media site that many marketers have skipped over. While it was originally billed as a social media site for traditional employers and potential employees, it has quickly become a good resource for connecting with people who are interested in specific industries.
Unlike Twitter and Facebook, LinkedIn requires its users to fill out a great deal of information about their business and their experience. Users are grouped by industry and people can make connections with others that are in their field. While you won’t find a great deal of general consumers, if your niche serves a specific type of industry or the people that do business within the industry, LinkedIn can be a great way to make connections.
When you sign up for LinkedIn, you’ll insert information about your business and your experiences. You’ll be invited to connect with people from your existing e-mail address book, or you can add them manually. Once you’ve gotten your profile setup, you’ll want to head to two different sections. The two sections that are of most use Internet marketers are the “Groups” section and “Answers” section.
In “Groups”, you’ll be able to find or start a group that is based on your target market. For example if your niche is building blogs, you can start a group for blogging beginners or become part of an existing group so you can show off your expertise and get traffic back to your site. In groups you can take part in discussions or post your own articles and links. Participating in groups will help brand you as a niche expert and help you bond with your target market.
You can also show off your expertise in the “Answers” section of the site. This section allows users to ask questions and answer them. Questions can be anything from specific tutorial questions to general questions on the topic. Search for recent questions that relate to your topic or start your own questions to get some feedback from your target market. The more you participate in the answers section, the more attention your profile and your site will get.
You can make a lot of valuable connections with your target market by using LinkedIn strategically. If this isn’t currently part of your social media marketing plan, head over to http://www.LinkedIn.com to get started today.
You can add me to your LinkedIn Network by visiting my profile here and adding me as a contact, I look forward to connecting with you:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenolander
Enjoy!
Darren Olander