It’s difficult to compete online without utilizing social media marketing for your web design business. Your potential customers are using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube more than ever. If you don’t have a presence on these websites, then you’ll lose a competitive advantage. The good news is that you don’t have to spend all day trying to market on these websites, and you can do a lot with little or no monetary investment.
Facebook
The leader in social media appears to be Facebook, and you can use it to your advantage. There are many ways that you can use it for marketing your web design business, such as:
Create a Facebook group based on your target market
Launch your own fan page
Promote blog posts
Announce webinars, teleseminars and other online events
Organize contests that can go viral with the help of your Facebook friends
Leverage Facebook’s ranking to raise your ranking using search engine optimization techniques
Use email marketing techniques to market to friends and fans that you generate on Facebook
Utilizing Facebook to promote your business can be an effective way to generate more leads and gain more sales. You should not mix your personal Facebook pages with your business presence, and many business owners decide not to have a personal Facebook at all.
Twitter
You may be among many business owners who dread posting tweets about everything you’re doing and when you’re doing it. There’s a misconception that the only way to use Twitter is to engage in meaningless conversation or to give a status report of your daily happenings. That’s not the case it all when it comes to social media marketing for your web design business. You can so much more using Twitter, including:
Finding prospects by following them on Twitter
Tweet blog posts and news that will position you as an expert
Expand your client base by other tweeters who re-tweet your posts
Build a community that will result in more clients
Deliver company news, announcements and other items fast
Drive more traffic to your website by linking to it from your Twitter profile
Research trends that affect your target market and capitalize on it for your business
It’s important to note that you don’t have to monitor Twitter all day long or be on standby to post your tweets. Software developers have created various applications and tools to help you manage your Twitter activities. For example, you can write and pre-schedule tweets for the week using SocialOomph.com.
YouTube
Video marketing resonates with many customers, more so than articles or other types of marketing. The use of video engages more senses and holds the interest of web visitors. YouTube makes it possible to take advantage of video marketing as a form of social media marketing with minimal investment. You can do a lot with a flip video camera. You can even create video using only static pictures and text, which customers may be willing to view instead of reading a lengthy manual or document. If you’re wondering how you can use YouTube effectively, consider these strategies:
Insert keywords in your video descriptions to appear higher in search results
Create quality videos that go viral on the web
Engage with YouTube viewers who leave comments or ask questions
Make sure that the video and audio quality is good, so that you don’t frustrate viewers.
There are many options for social media marketing for your web design business, but these are the big three that you should start with. Take the time to learn the strategies to be as effective as you can on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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You can’t control the external factors that threaten your business, but you can survive and thrive during tough economic times when you learn how to manage your business well. It may mean that you can no longer do business as usual, or you may need to improve on your current management style and processes. You’ll probably have to make some sort of change to meet the challenges of an economic recession or depression. The good news is that business owners have been through it before, and some of their best days came about because they employed great business management strategies in the face of a harsh economy.
Master Your Cash Flow
One of the main reasons for business failure is the inability of entrepreneurs to manage cash flow. In its most basic terms, cash flow is how money enters and exits your business. Your job is to get as much cash as possible, as quickly as possible and to have as little of it leave your hands as possible. The procedures you put in place to accomplish these goals determine whether your business survives or thrives. If you don’t know what it takes to master cash flow in your business, then stop most of what you’re doing and take the time to learn. There’s no use investing time and money in marketing if you can’t manage the cash that you’ll get as a result of your efforts.
Improve Leadership Skills
Your employees can help you overcome the economic crisis you face in your business or in the general marketplace. The same employees can hurt your business if you fail to lead them properly. One way to hold onto good employees is to improve your own leadership skills. Become a better listener and make sure you’re give them the resources and tools that they need to succeed at their jobs. Communicate openly and often when times are hard. You don’t want them to guess your motives or remain in fear that they won’t have a job the next day. Some employees may even make sacrifices for you and your company if they trust you and believe that you’re a solid leader.
Become More Efficient
It’s crucial to tighten your budget during tough economic times, but you also have to tighten how you deliver goods and services to manage your business well. You can lose money, time and people by not being efficient. The best way to test your efficiency is to have someone do one of the tasks you often do. If that’s not possible, then conduct an honest assessment of the way you accomplish your business goals. Time yourself and write down the steps you take on a routine basis to manage your business. You may discover better ways to do what you’ve become accustomed to, and that could lead to saving more cash.
Learning how to manage your business well should be a priority no matter what the circumstances. Schedule time to gain the skills you need, or to work on improving the ones you already have.
The Art Marketing Association is an international organization dedicated to helping artists sell more art by providing the marketing tools you need.
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