There used to be a day when everyone simply searched for what they wanted online but those days are long gone. Today, social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, have taken over as the go to place for consumers to find what they want. This has taken over as people can now see how many individuals support a product, how many complain and find out updated about a company, product or service throughout the day. This article will point out the good and bad of social media sites as a marketing tool, allowing you to make an educated guess as to whether successful reputation management tools that you could take advantage of.
Social media or networking sites are those where individuals sigh up for a personal page and then start following not only people they know, but those celebrities and companies they like. Many of these people start fan pages and groups for certain products offering free marketing for the brand they enjoy and aid in spreading the word to others by posting comments or re sending a post from someone they like to all of those following that person. It is a huge spider web of people that has the potential to direct many eyes back in your direction.
As mentioned, social media has the advantage of being the place where everyone goes to converse. They have small communities of people that are always growing and a potential for you to be seen by millions of people when using the proper techniques. It far exceeds the potential of any form of paid marketing that you can sign up for and delivers the largest audience that you can refine to your niche with a simple search of keywords or groups interested in your topic.
The disadvantages of social media are that you will have to work at becoming an active part of the community. You simply cannot push links on people and expect them to bite. They will soon rally and you will have a bad rep as those on social media do gossip. If the experiences you share are positive the followers will grow but it is a fine line to walk when promoting a business on social networking sites as a successful reputation management tools.
Sign up for the major players, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and start pages dedicated to your business. Have friends and family follow you and help in getting the word out. You can add badges and buttons to your main site as well as link all of these pages together so the consumer can jump from one to the other without searching the web. Create your spider web with your main site and start weaving outward incorporating all of these into the web where it all leads back to the center, your main site and products and services.
If you keep these suggestions in mind and focus on linking everything together, your social media experience as a successful reputation management tools will be a positive one. Take advantage of the potential audience you have before you and start creating your niche that will not only help promote you but also seek your, knowledge, products and services on a continual basis.