3 goals of social media and social media marketing

I’ve lost count of the number of blog posts, articles, and forum comments I’ve read online advocating the benefits of social media and social networking sites for a business. Some of them are really insightful, some of them have some good case studies, and some of them are just utter bullshit. At the end of the day, most of these posts say the same thing. Somehow everyone adheres to the three things I mention below. For most business owners, there are three goals that need to be achieved from social media marketing.

Make your business known Obviously, all marketing must have an effect in increasing awareness of your business. The more you are out there, the more people should know about your existence. Social networking sites are a great way to publicize your business. I mean, this should be obvious. There are 500 million people around the world who have a Facebook profile. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world. Chances are some of your target audience members are on Facebook. Your existing customers are likely to be there too and if they join your business fan page they will show up in your news feed and their Facebook friends will see it. They may be curious, click on the link and become a Fan if your offer is interesting enough.

Increase traffic to your main website- Social media marketing is also designed, or should be designed, to increase traffic to your main website. This can be through Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, but also by writing articles and submitting them to directories like this one or by participating in web forums and networking groups related to your niche. You need to make sure that you always provide useful content on each of these sites and then subtly provide a link to your main website so that people click on the link and visit your main site.

Interact directly with your target audience- Don’t underestimate the importance of the social world when it comes to social media or social media marketing. You have to remember that you are dealing with people. Interact directly with your audience and have a conversation. Don’t preach and listen when your audience responds.

If you want to engage in this type of marketing, make sure you achieve the three goals I mentioned above: make sure you’re working to increase awareness of your business, increase web traffic, and engage directly with your audience.