Making The Most of Social Media

Embedded video, put them on your site!

For those who clicked on the video above this is one example of what I'm talking about. People see this graphic which they have come to know as a video player. They click the graphic to see the video. Instead of a video player though, this graphic takes them to YOUR web site, where they can watch the video. If the video gets them interested, they're already on your site, so you're one step closer to converting them. Social media sites are great for getting visitors, but you need to capture their interest and get them to your site or their likely to watch, laugh (assuming your video is funny), and move on. I also suggest when using video, make sure to put the text (or related text) below for those who like to read.

Offer Rich Content

These sites are people oriented, and the content that you link to should be as well. Offering video is a great idea, but free downloads that people can use work wonders. Things like themes for social media sites, wallpapers, e-cards, gift subscriptions, etc. All of these things are the type of offerings that can be used. Be creative and brand everything you give away. Here's an example very relative to local business in Costa Rica. Putting a collection of beautiful tropical vacation wallpapers on your web site, making sure that your logo and web site address is clearly printer on them, and giving them away for free would probably be profitable from one extra vacationer. Making a tropical vacation theme for social media sites like MySpace and embedding a link to your web site or profile is another example. Just because you give it away for free doesn't mean that you get nothing of it. If fact, doing something like putting a subscription to your newsletter at the bottom, and informing people of "this month's free wallpaper" in the newsletter is a great way to build subscribers and keep them coming back to your site.

Different demographics, different style

I can't give you a better example of what I mean by this than a web site that sells blenders. These guys have mastered the art of using fresh, funny, and creative style to sell something that most people don't spend much time researching. Think about how much time you've spent thinking about a choice in blender? Well these guys have created a funny and fresh way to promote their product, and they are getting links from all over the internet (including here) for a simple web site and funny video clips. My personal favorite is Chuck Norris. There are more places like this. There's a cheese company in the UK who has the Cheddar Vision cheese cam where people can watch cheese age in real time. It sounds crazy but people found it to be humorous and shared it with friends. This oddball project taking advantage of social media for exposure has them on the top 10 of Google and has skyrocket sales.

There are plenty more tips where these came from. Have something to add or have a question? Feel free to comment using the form below. Also, if you haven't yet, sign up for our monthly newsletter to get even more great tips and special discounts. This month we had a tip which is now getting people 30+ backlinks to their web site with as little as 15 minutes of work. Don't miss out on the secrets we give away next month.