Running a business is already hard enough as it is so just imagine the challenges that come with running one that’s virtual in its primary operations! No matter what industry you’re in, if you have a spot on the internet, unless you want to become dead weight, you have to market and advertise and promote. This is easier said than done but with the right tools and tricks, you can do a lot of your marketing on your own for next to nothing. If you don’t have the time or the savvy, there are myriad tools and services that are available to help you put your products and services out there. There are many people who still doubt the awesome power of marketing and specifically online marketing but we see its strength everyday when we log into our various social networking portals. People love to talk and love to share the things that matter to them and when applicable, they will also spend their money too! If you want to be part of the group that’s getting seen and spent on, trust our tips and make it happen!

1. While it is important to make things personal if you want to foster personal connections with your customers, talking about yourself constantly is a no-no if you want more loyal followers. Especially on sites like Twitter, no one wants to read about you you you all the live long day. If you want to get more re-tweets to drive stronger traffic to your website, focus on being relevant, sharing positive information and things that your followers are interested in.
2. Your medium is not your message. You have to keep in mind that social networking platforms are just catalysts and they are merely portals for you to do the work to drive interest to your website. They can distribute messages that you want to send but by themselves, they are not THE message.
3. It is important to measure your social media metrics so they can tell you how well you’re doing based on why you’re engaging in social media in the first place. Think about why you are tweeting and who you are tweeting to. Why do you have a facebook page or a YouTube account? Was this a sales related exercise or are you just conducting research? When you have a clearly defined focal point you will be able to utilize these tools more appropriately to your advantage.
4. Nothing will help you more than monitoring and managing your business’ online reputation. What people think and are saying about you can hurt or help your sales revenue and if you’re not on top of the public opinion, you will essentially be sinking yourself. Reputation.com management for business reputations is a sound, proven tool that will help you decipher who is for and who is against you. Reach out to everyone, regardless of opinion and see how many thanks you can offer as well as how many minds you can change.