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Four Secrets for Social Media Success

8 IN 1BOOKSBOOKS

A L L - I N - O N E

Making Everything Easier!™

Social Media Marketing

• The Social Media Mix• Cybersocial Tools• Blogs, Podcasts, and Vlogs• Twitter®• Facebook®• LinkedIn®• Other Social Media Marketing Sites• Measuring Results; Building On Your Success

Jan ZimmermanDoug Sahlin

978-0-470-58468-2

The number of outlets for social media marketing is staggering. Blogs are just the beginning. Now you can choose from social networks like Facebook and Twitter, social bookmarks like Delicious, social news sites like Digg, social shopping like Kaboodle, social media sharing sites like YouTube, and social communities like Ning, not to mention new social outlets that are constantly being introduced.

Take a deep breath! What you already know about online marketing will stand you in good stead. Start with the basics and work from there.

1. Create a hub Web site or blog with a domain name that you own. Social media are a way to cast a wider net for your products or services. Ultimately, you still need to drive traffic to a core Web site or blog for additional information or purchasing.

2. Develop a standard set of 8 keywords or phrases and a page description for search engine optimization.

Just as you optimize your Web site, optimize your social marketing content and profiles. Use the same description and terms over and over to improve your ranking on search engines, and to appear higher on internal search results for each social media outlet.

3. Plan your marketing and work your plan. As with all other forms of marketing, your decisions are driven by your target audience. You market on the media outlets they use. Before you actually do anything, define your market, establish your goals, and decide how you will measure success.

4. Keep it simple! Unless you have many people on your marketing team, you’ll need to keep your social media efforts under control - or they will control you. Generally, you’ll get better results by posting more often on a few sites than posting occasionally on many sites. Create a simple monthly schedule of activi-ties that includes posting somewhere at least weekly.

About the Authors

Jan Zimmerman provides strategic Web marketing, social media and site management services through her company, Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing (WatermelonWeb.com), in Albuquerque, NM. Doug Sahlin operates a photography business that specializes in event, wedding, and portrait photography. Doug’s portfolio includes both formal and casual portraits.