This document provides an overview of social media marketing strategies for businesses. It discusses choosing social media platforms based on target audiences, setting up professional profiles, advertising profiles to current customers, engaging with followers by posting quality content and calls to action, and maintaining a consistent posting schedule. Mistakes discussed include failing to include vendors in social media strategies, neglecting LinkedIn's business networking potential, hiding a company's personality, and expecting instant results without patience. The document promotes developing a solid long-term social media marketing strategy and avoiding common costly errors.

2. Chapter 1
Social Media Marketing:
Building A Network
For Your Business

3. It seems like everyone has been talking about social media for a few years now. These
sites are awesome for businesses to use because they are usually free and lots of people
use them. Here is how to use social media marketing to expand your customer base.
Figure out where the majority of your customers are in social media. Put a survey up on
your website and allow people to vote on which site they use the most. This will allow
you to figure out where you have the best chance to reach out to people that already like
your product. If you're not sure, then pick one that's very popular, like Facebook or Twitter
as your starting point.
After choosing a social media site to market on, set up your profile. This is usually pretty
straightforward and takes little time. Remember that you're making this for your business
and not yourself, so fill out the profile accordingly.
Once you have a profile up and running, you should then advertise it to your users. If you
have a mailing list, send them all an e-mail about it. Put up a link on your business's main
website. Draw as many people in as you can with whatever tools you have to communi-
cate with your current customers.
When you finally have a few people added
to your social network, you have to be sure
to update them on what's going on fre-
quently. Spamming them will not work but
posting good quality content about what's
going on with a link to your products will.
The better the quality of your advertising
and content, the more of a chance it has to
be shared with more networks.
Looking at your competition's social media
sites can provide great insight as to what
people expect from yours. Check their pages out and see what others are saying there.
Notice how they built their profile and how they interact with others. Take what you learn
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4. and apply that in your own way to your page. Don't rip your competition completely off,
just take what works and form it into something that will work for your company.
Update people on things and share news about your niche every once in a while. If you
only use social media to advertise and nothing else, you won't last long. Even if you share
a news story and it gets shared, it will still link back to you as the original person who
shared it. Make sure your profile has a link to your main website so that if they are inter-
ested they can visit and purchase something. The more everything you put out gets
shared with others, the more potential customers you are reaching.
By building and maintaining your social media site, you'll reap the benefits of social me-
dia marketing. This type of marketing is very effective and can help you reach a lot of
people if you put in the effort. Apply the article above to your marketing efforts and see
what it can do for you!
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5. Chapter 2
Creating A Solid Social
Media Marketing Campaign

6. With social media connecting everyone in the world to one another, it only makes sense
that it would make an excellent marketing tool. There are literally millions of people who
subscribe to one social media outlet or another. Not only are these people subscribers,
they use them in their everyday lives to get a wealth of information about all sorts of
stuff. In recent years, businesses have caught on to this phenomenon and started using
social media to help promote them to people they never had access to before. However,
developing a social media marketing strategy is not something you can just put together
in a single afternoon. Rather, it requires a great deal of planning and effort. The following
article will help you learn what steps you should take to create a successful social media
marketing campaign.
First, you need to get ac-
customed to all the differ-
ent social media outlets
that are available to you.
Don't stop with just Face-
book and Twitter (though
we will talk about these
sites shortly). Instead find
any social media site that
might cater to your target audience so that you can really get your message out there to
anyone and everyone who might be interested. Other sites such as LinkedIn might be
even more beneficial than the popular ones we mentioned earlier. It is important that you
do your homework so that you create the most efficient marketing strategy possible.
Let's face it, in order to have a successful social media marketing strategy, you must have
a Facebook page. Facebook is far and away the most popular social media site out there,
and it doesn't look like that is going to change any time soon. However, simply creating a
Facebook page is not enough. There are countless businesses out there that have bland
and boring pages that all look the same, only to discover that they don't get any follow-
ers. It is extremely important to have a page that stands out so that readers will have a
reason to stay and observe it. Try and make your page engaging and interesting so that
anyone who comes across it won't immediately hit that back button on their browser.
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7. After an eye catching Facebook page, the next most important social media outlet is most
definitely Twitter. Twitter is great because it allows you to get the word out on any new
announcements your company might want its consumers to know. Your followers will get
your message immediately and will appreciate you for it. Also, it never hurts to add some
humorous posts now and then to attract even more followers. Be careful not to spam your
clients with too much repetitive information, however, as this can cause them to unfollow
you.
You now have the very basics of starting a social media marketing campaign. This is by no
means an end all be all solution, and you are going to have to amend your strategy so
that it complements your business nicely. However, if you use the information you've just
read, you are well on your way towards making your business more visible.
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8. Chapter 3
Attracting New Customers
With Social Media
Marketing

9. If you have a website of any kind, you need people to know about it. You need to do some
kind of marketing, and if you are serious, you need to take a look at social media market-
ing. Social media is free to use, and you can reach thousands of people instantly with your
messages. Here are some smart tips for you to keep in mind as you are exploring social
media and using it for your marketing efforts
1. Observe before you start interacting. This is a key step to take. When you are just start-
ing out with social media, you may want to jump in right away, but that is not a wise idea.
Get a feel for how each site works and how people interact with each other.
2. Check out your competition's profiles. You don't want to copy them, but you do want to
get a few ideas. Watch how they interact with their followers and friends. See how often
they update their page. See what they are doing that is good, and how they can improve.
That way, you can avoid their mistakes and start off on the right foot.
3. Act like a professional. You may see a
lot of people posting all kinds of things
on social media, but remember one thing:
your professional profile is not your per-
sonal profile. If you have a burning desire
to tell people what your lunch tasted like,
save it for the profile that isn't linked to
your financial livelihood. The only excep-
tion to this, of course, would be if you had
a food blog related to your own cuisine!
4. Talk to people. This is supposed to be social, remember? Take the time to look around
and see what your followers are posting. What are their problems? What do they want?
This is a great way to learn more about your customers, and in turn find out how you can
better serve them. There could be a lot of great ideas that results from the simple art of
conversation.
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10. 5. Write content that excites people. When your posts are interesting to people, they are
going to be more likely to share with their networks, which opens you up to thousands of
new customers. Do your best to provide content that is relevant, thought-provoking or
funny. That way, people will not wait to be told to share; they will just do it.
6. Give people a call to action periodically. While you have to be very careful that you do
not hard-sell on social media, you have to be just as adamant that your business deserves
business! About once every two or three days, provide information that really talks up one
of your products.
With these tips, you have the basics of what you need to know in social media. Social me-
dia can be a great way for you to build relationships, create loyalty, and reach new people
all the time. Use the tips in your efforts and you'll see great results.
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11. Chapter 4
5 Tips For Solid
Social Media Marketing

12. Social media marketing provides a platform for gaining millions of potential customers.
There are numerous ways you can approach this form of fairly new advertising. This arti-
cle will provide you with five simple in depth tips and tricks you can apply to your social
media marketing endeavors for optimal results.
The first step to social media marketing is to set up your company's pages. You probably
already have a few websites in mind such as Twitter or Facebook. It is important that be-
fore you start any major marketing efforts, your profiles have all the common information
filled out and you have uploaded your company's logos. If your chosen social media web-
site allows, consider adding things like a custom background for your profile, customer
images and reviews. The more on-hands media and information you provide for custom-
ers, the more people will be interested in your company and its products.
Keep a schedule to regularly update all of your social media profiles. The number one
failure in social media marketing is to avoid proper updates or only do them weekly. It
has been a proven fact that companies who update their profiles once a day see an in-
crease in customers. Your updates should be relevant to the business and shouldn't be
something that viewers could consider spam. Provide customers with intellectual and
valuable information that they could not find elsewhere.
Contests attract a great deal of
attention on social media web-
sites. People love to get some-
thing for free, which is the
perfect reason for you to host a
contest. There are hundreds of
ways you can go about hosting
a contest, but the ones that at-
tract the most attention are
customer review contests, pet
contests or contests where us-
ers submit children photos. The
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13. latter two have a cute factor that no one can deny and will attract plenty of wanted atten-
tion. You can make these contests work in your favor by giving out some of your products
as prizes. It is not only much like sending samples, but people who are satisfied with your
contest prize products are likely to come back for more.
Your social media pages won't receive attention overnight. You have to put in some effort
to gain some wanted followers. The best way to do this is to make the connection be-
tween your main company's website and your social media profiles. Place links on your
company website that lead back to your social media pages. Many people choose to use
the well-known social media logos for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. This is a good
practice to go by as it makes the connection obvious and easy to spot by people looking
for it.
Invite the customers that you currently have to participate actively in your social media
profiles. Customers who already know your company and are happy to deal with you will
more than likely become an active follower. Gain their attention by sending out an email
to your current customers, letting them know that you have made a presence on their fa-
vorite social media websites. Make sure to only send this type of email if the customer
has given their permission to hear any form of news from your company.
Social media marketing reaches millions of potential customers in a given day. This is
what makes it such a popular marketing platform for many companies to pursue. You can
make great impact in the community just by setting up your social media profiles and let-
ting others see what your company has to offer!
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14. Chapter 5
A Few Costly Mistakes
People Make Through
Social Media Marketing

15. Let's be honest, the wide world of social media has expanded into virtually every aspect
of our culture, including business. It has been proven to be a valuable marketing tool if
used correctly and with a solidly developed strategy. Unfortunately, there are countless
mistakes, often expensive ones that inexperienced businesses often make when carrying
out a social media marketing campaign. The following article will detail you on some of
the most common mistakes businesses make so that you may avoid them in the future.
The first marketing mistake we will discuss is a business' failure to cultivate social media
relationships with its vendors. Your vendors are your supply chain and thus an extremely
important part of your business. When you are developing a social media marketing strat-
egy, make sure that your vendors are a part of that strategy. This will allow you to estab-
lish a good relationship with your business partners while also affording you another
outlet to promote your business. This is often overlooked by inexperienced companies.
Another social media marketing strategy that is often made is neglecting to use the net-
working powers provided by LinkedIn. We all know that Facebook and Twitter are the two
most popular social networking
sites in the world, but in the
business world, there is no social
networking site better than
LinkedIn. The reason is simple.
Sites such as Facebook and Twit-
ter are used by the masses, but
often on a more personal level.
LinkedIn, on the other hand, is a
professional site solely dedicated
to the business world. It will al-
low you to connect with poten-
tial clients as well as investors. It
also has a more reputable and
professional feel which will give
your business a more legitimate
look.
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16. On the flip side, some companies try to look a little too professional. Another common
social media marketing mistake that many businesses make is they keep their company's
personality hidden. You shouldn't be afraid to show what your company is all about. A
boring and stuffy marketing campaign will do little to attract anyone. Instead, allow your
personality to show a little so that people get a true idea of what your business is really
about.
Yet, another mistake made when undergoing a social media marketing strategy is to ex-
pect results instantly. Too often a business will start a marketing campaign and will be
shocked when business doesn't pick up within the next few days. Understand that social
media marketing takes time and there is a great deal of patience required. Once you have
developed a solid campaign strategy, you have to give it time to take effect.
The whole world of social media marketing is relatively new and it will require a great
deal of new and unique concepts. Avoiding some of the common and costly mistakes
mentioned above will give you a leg up on the competition when you start developing
your own strategy. So long as you put in the time and work, your marketing efforts can
lead to great success for you and your business.
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17. About Pinson Digital
Pinson Digital LLC, is a Salem Oregon based inbound marketing agency. We'll help turn your web-
site into a sales and marketing machine with awesome content, compelling offers and a strategy
for converting leads into sales.
For more information, please contact us at 503-584-1124 or pinsongroup@gmail.com
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