Social media marketing when done correctly is a form of word of mouth marketing through the use of various social media channels on the social web. These social media channels consists of blogs, social networks, media sites such as YouTube and Pinterest, and various other user active sites. The focus with social media is about building trust and relationships with targeted audiences and this can be used to drive traffic to your website or blog.

Generating traffic via social media is also a great way of securing targeted traffic from different sources and not only Google. If you are active on the social web you are giving people a solid reason to visit and link to your website because of all the great original content that you publish. The links that are generated can be very valuable to your SEO efforts and increase your digital footprint online.

Social media marketing is different

Social media marketing is not the same as traditional marketing. Social media is all about connecting with your target audience and publishing original and interesting content that you can use to build trust and relationships. It’s not about selling at all, though it’s a common fact that people like to do business with people that they know and that they trust.

You can also use social media to build your reputation and your brand, not to sell your services or products directly. Your brand and business image is what you represent and what you care about others. Brand yourself as the expert in your niche and be the persuasive and unique voice in your market. Your goal should be to build a natural following on the social web.

Engage with your audience

Your target audience will have the ability to interact and engage with your directly to learn abut your services and products. This is done by sharing your useful content on the social web by using RSS, social sharing, user rating, and using other media enabled communities. If the content that you share is useful, others will share it and it will increase your reach online.

Combine your search engine optimization and social media efforts into one strategy. This way you will be able to use your strategy to generate traffic and build better organic rankings on Google.