The current proliferation of social media websites is the most pervasive phenomenon on the Internet today. Not since the dot.com explosion has the there been an Internet trend that is so widespread in its popularity. Social media is here to stay; maybe not all the big names will survive, but the concept will.

Social media has brought about a profound change to the online visitor’s experience. By properly utilizing social media websites; you can experience and enormous increase in your website’s traffic.

Listed below are introductory steps to follow:

• Declare who you are to the online community. People should be able to relate to you. Create an About Us (Me) profile page and list your company’s achievements, abilities and aspirations. Take a moment to read From Geek to Chic- The Soap Opera of the Internet

• Create a MySpace or Facebook page and link your biographical page (step one) to your social media profile. Don’t forget to link back to your website as well. Spend at least one hour per week developing your network. Invite friends to write blog articles about your website, products or services.

• Install a blog on your website and publish at least one article a week. Be certain to provide an easy “bookmarking” feature to “bookmarking” websites such as del.icio.us.

• Provide visitors with a forum. This will encourage users to discuss your products and services. Do not delete negative comments; however, be certain to censor hate speeches and bantering. Register your forum at BoardTracker- a forum search engine. For an example, view the Cornwall Seaway Forum

• Provide RSS feeds for new products, blogs, forum postings, etc. An RSS feed provides “tidbits” about your content. Internet users often use RSS readers to scan “tidbits” and visit your website for more information if tidbits interest them.

• Create short “how-to” or new product videos and post them in social video sharing sites like YouTube and Google video. Provide a few start and end frames in these videos to introduce your site with your site URL. Post these videos using catchy titles, “tidbit” descriptions, and appropriate tags; making them easy to discover.

• Use social photo sharing websites, such as Flickr and SmugMug, to share pictures related to your business, products or services.

• Provide a “Send to a Friend” feature to your website. This feature will send articles, product/service descriptions and savings announcements to selected recipients via email.

We are the Corporate Image Consultants

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at 3:15 am and is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.