5 Steps to Become a Better Social Media Marketer

Posted in Must-Read Articles

From Daily Blog Tips

If you want to be more effective with driving traffic to  your website or blog with social media, here are five steps that are sure to  improve your results.

1. Targeting the Right Sites

There are hundreds or maybe even thousands of social  media sites that you could be using. Obviously no one has the time to use them  all effectively, and some of them aren’t worth your time anyway.

One of the first things you will need to do is find a  few sites that will work well for you. Of course the larger sites like Digg and StumbleUpon are popular choices because of  the large traffic volumes that they send. But if you are looking for sites that  can send high quality traffic, first look for niche-specific  social media sites.

Also targeting a general news website like Digg or Reddit can be helpful because once you have  developed a strong profile you can promote all types of content, not just stuff  that fits into one specific niche.

2. Consistent Use

If you hope to ever become a true authority on social  media, you’ll have to implement consistent use. As you use the sites that you  have targeted every day you’ll become familiar with what works and what doesn’t,  and you’ll get to know some of the other consistent users.

3. Development of Content that Appeals to the Audience

Driving traffic to your website through social media  will require content development that meets the expectations of social media  users. Creating blog content that targets social media users doesn’t mean that  you have to alienate your subscribers, contrary to the opinion of some people.  What it does mean is that you will have to dedicate the time and effort to find  a topic that is of particular interest to your readers and present it in a way  that also appeals to social media users. For example, social media users like  lists, breaking news, photos, controversy, and informative topics.

4. Networking and Helping Others

Content creation and networking are the two most  important aspects of social media marketing. Great content without a network  will have a harder time becoming popular and a strong network is an asset, but  its value will not be realized without great content.

Networking on social media sites involves voting for the  submissions of others, leaving comments, adding friends, and generally getting  to know other users. With a strong network your submissions and votes will get  more attention and you’ll have some friends to call on when you need help  getting those extra votes needed to get over the hump.

5. Conversion

In most cases just getting traffic to a website will not  be your ultimate goal. Social media traffic is pretty much useless if you are  not able to convert some of it into what you want. Maybe you want to convert the  traffic into links, or maybe subscribers. The conversion rate of social media  traffic will usually be lower than the rates of other types of traffic, but the  huge volumes sent by social media can offset a lower conversion rate and make it  very valuable traffic.

While these steps will all help you to reach your goals of promoting your site with social media, they all require one very important step – taking action. So go get started today and build some momentum with social media.