Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or don’t have access to the internet), you’ve surely been exposed to social media.
Things like, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, Squidoo, and on and on and on.
Social media is simply an “online place” where people can gather and interact with each other on various levels.
They can be like facebook, where it’s designed for friends, or LinkedIn, designed for professionals, or simple topic specific “forums” (where folks come and discuss on the decided topic) such as BMW forum, beer forum, Los Angeles Mountain Biking Trail forum, etc.
One thing in common among ALL of these popular social media sites is the fact that they attract visitors with one common interest. And if you are able to get your relevant name/brand/business in front of them in a conducive and non-intrusive manner, you are guaranteed loyal customers.
The question then becomes “HOW?”
Understand that social media is less about “online traffic” as it is about… well, socializing!
Think of social media as going to one big party. You wouldn’t show up to a party wearing a suite and talking everyone’s ears off about your business right? Nope. You’d go and shoot the breeze on topics of agreed interest. ONLY if and when your business comes up (naturally) would you agree to take the conversation AWAY from the party in a more suitable environment to discuss further.
So think of social media as more for branding and brand control… and to get to know your audience/market better. It is where you get to help control the conversation about your business online.
Leverage this awesome tool to then direct traffic appropriately to your website.
