Some businesses have seen a dramatic increase in sales since
participating in social networking sites. Of the top 100 global brands, the
most heavily and widely engaged in social media saw an increase in sales,
according to Engagement db’s social media engagement report. In the first
half of 2009, Dell generated $3 million dollars directly via Twitter. At the
end of 2009, Dell reported to have doubled its Twitter based sales.
Social media is not just for large companies. Take Naked Pizza, a small
pizza parlor in New Orleans, for example. The pizzeria is equipped with a
large, prominent sign encouraging people to follow the eatery on Twitter.
Naked pizza also measures its social media success through sales. On a
record breaking day, over 68% of total sales and 85% of their new customers
were from Twitter.
Benefit from an increase in website traffic with a successful social
media strategy. Link sharing is a key element in social networking sites.
Post interesting content on your Facebook Fan Page, blog or in a tweet and
your followers, fans and readers will share links to your content with their
online peers. Monitor the number of inbound links your target audiences are
generating.
To foster link sharing, utilize services such as TweetMeme, a ‘retweet’
button which can be added to web pages and blog posts tweeting a link to
your website. It allows visitors to tweet a link to your content. Facebook
analytics for a Fan Pages allows you to monitor how many clicks your
Facebook content garners and the amount of web traffic it generates.
Capitalize on social sharing services such as SocialTwist, which delivered
over 10 million links in 2009 to skyrocket your organic search engine
results.
Social media can help build and strengthen brand awareness. Monitor blog
traffic and press mentions inspired by blog posts or other shared online
content. Social media seeks to build relationships and create brand
evangelists to spread the great news about your business. It can raise your
search engine listings and increase brand visibility.
To best harness the power social media, learn what channels your target
audiences are using or most likely to accept. Social media engagement is
more than posting links to your website or tweeting your success on a
routine basis. Instead, foster conversation and position your business as an
industry leader.
For a positive social media return on investment, it is important to set
clear business goals and milestones to measure your success. For maximum
impact, listen to your audiences and adjust your efforts accordingly.
For more information on how to optimize and measure your social media
success, contact Walt Denny Inc. at 630.323.0555, email walt@waltdenny.com
or visit www.waltdenny.com.
Efrain Ayala
Walt Denny Inc., The Home Products Agency
15 Salt Creek Lane, Ste. 210
Hinsdale, Il 60521
p-630/323.0555
f-630/323.1040
