Everyone is going digital. There’s nothing earth-shattering about that.

This makes being somewhat social media savvy is necessary to attracting new business from these potential clients.

I know, I know, it was only a few months ago I was griping about the evils of jumping on the social media bandwagon.

While I still think social media is not necessary for everyone, it still has its place in a healthy business’ overall marketing strategy.

Through the consistent (and appropriate) exposure of social media, people remember your brand and advertisements.

It’s similar to the concept of commercial jingles. I know every time I hear that stupid Meow Mix song, I can’t get it out of my head. It’s annoying, but effective. But let’s try not to be annoying, shall we?

The same concept applies to your brand. In general, people are visual creatures and remember designs and thus, which ultimately means they remember your company by its design.

In fact, 65 percent of the population consists of visual learners, so seeing your brand consistently is important if you want customers to remember your company. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how your design is, but that’s another post entirely 😉

When it comes to social media, two most effective ones that offer an outlet for repetitive marketing strategies are probably LinkedIn and Twitter.

Utilizing LinkedIn

There are over 120 million professionals representing 200 countries around the world on LinkedIn. Many recruiters use LinkedIn to search for employees and service providers, so it’s a significant way to market your small business.

To maximize the benefits of using LinkedIn as a marketing tool, you must become your own advocate.

What that means is that your LinkedIn profile will require a decent amount of maintenance. Although marketing happens 24/7 on LinkedIn, it doesn’t mean that you actually have to spend all day on there. Just a few minutes of your time, each day, on a consistent basis will help you maintain a marketable identity on LinkedIn.

Joining groups that attract your target consumers is a good way to make connections with prospective clients who aren’t currently in your network of contacts.

Once you’ve accumulated a good number of contacts, share an article, blog, press release or customer review using your connected group profiles as a platform.

Alumni association groups are also a wonderful way to share your company’s progress.

You can even create your own group that attracts your target audience, and encourage others to join. Within the group, you can discuss your company goals and intentions, and have group members share their opinion. This strategy is a beneficial form of feedback, and it’s completely free.

Another way to promote your company is to ask your LinkedIn contacts if they will write you a recommendation, or endorse your skills. Be proactive about looking for clients, by using the advanced people search to target specific people in your shared network.

Although LinkedIn is great, there is one caveat, and it has to do with our promise to not be annoying. You do not want to flood your network connections and contacts with emails about your status updates (that gets real old real quick). So be sure to personalize your privacy controls under your profile settings (hint: uncheck the box under “turn on/off your activity broadcasts”).

Here are the marketing tips and tricks about LinkedIn you can utilize today:

1. Spend a few minutes on LinkedIn every day to maintain a marketable identity
2. Your profile should include a link to your company website and other social media accounts
3. Use the group platforms to share interesting articles, blogs, press releases and customer reviews
4. Create your own group and invite others to join
5. Ask for recommendations or skill endorsements from your connections
6. Proactively mine for clients using the advanced people search feature
7. Turn off your activity broadcasts to ensure you’re not being annoying

Harnessing Twitter

Although you only have 140 characters for each post, Twitter offers free networking and public relations for your business—you just need to get a little creative to say it succinctly.

Ideally, the more followers you have on Twitter, the more influence you have, which could mean potentially more business.

But first things first: you need to get your company name out there.

An example would be to congratulate a client’s success story, or offer compliments to people you admire. This way you can promote your business without coming across as self-serving.

One big mistake I see people do on Twitter is that they morph into the slimy salesman. Do not devote all of your time on Twitter to self-promotion; your followers will quickly lose interest and desert you.

Twitter should be an interactive dialogue, not a monologue where you do all the horn tooting.

Find a happy medium between sharing information and your expertise, while engaging your followers. A great way to do this is to ask their opinion on certain issues, or post intriguing questions. Whatever you do, don’t be stilted and forced; some of my most popular Tweets have been very candid.

Doing this enables you to build relationships with your followers, while staying informed about your consumers.

Remember: share your company website whenever possible on Twitter (without over-selling), and invite people to sign-up for your newsletter.

(If you haven’t done so already, start a newsletter. It doesn’t have to be a daily occurrence; it can be monthly or even quarterly. This will help you keep in the front and center of prospects’ minds.)

Marketing Keys and Tips for Twitter:

1. Tweet positive things about others to garner good PR
2. Avoid being in constant “sell” mode—be informative and helpful instead
3. Show genuine interest in others by commenting on fellow business owners, clients, or followers
4. Build client email lists: drive people to your website and invite them to sign-up for your newsletter
5. Create interactive dialogue on Twitter to learn more about your company’s market and consumers

All social media platforms offer access to a plethora of worlds, subcultures, niches, and communities when it comes to reaching a variety of consumers. Each individual user is unique in that they have a special combination of organizations, causes, clubs or associations, in which they are actively involved. The more platforms you use, the greater the circle of consumers you reach, so use them all.

To sum up

Marketing with social media isn’t rocket science, but it will take time and effort if you want to spread the word about your brand. The secret to being successful at digital marketing is to take advantage of all platforms.

Which social media platforms do you currently use for your business? How often do you use them? What methods have you found most effective?

Sheila

Sheila Patterson is the owner and Creative Director behind Apex Creative. GCU professor by day, brand identity expert by night, she loves all things related to design. When she's not creating amazing logos and websites, you can find Sheila tormenting her husband and two feline furbabies, catching the latest Game of Thrones episode, or reading a good book. Naps are nice too.