07 Aug 6 Online Marketing Tactics You Should Be Doing Today

Today’s consumers are very skeptical, and online marketing can help build a credible reputation for your company. People feel a closer connection to products or services when they know and like the people behind the brands. Here are 6 simple steps to get out there, build genuine relationships and let your contagious passion shine through:

1. Determine benchmarks.

In order to gauge success, first know your starting point. How many website visitors did you have last month? How much was direct traffic (they went straight to your website) vs. search engine traffic (they typed in keywords and found your website)? How many Facebook fans and Twitter followers do you have right now? As you implement online marketing tactics, track website visitors, social media participation and additional meaningful and manageable metrics every month to measure progress. Don’t get hung up on Facebook Fans, just use it a guide to see if your online coverage is growing.

2. Set goals.

Outline a few goals before you begin. What are our online marketing goals? How are you going to achieve them? Examples:

• Sample goal - Have 500 Twitter followers or Facebook fans by year-end.
• Sample tactic - Advertise your Twitter page by adding it to email signatures, ads, flyers, etc.
• Sample goal - Increase Google ad hits by 20%.
• Sample tactic - Research and test keywords, see what gets the most click-throughs.

3. Use Google Places. (www.google.com/places)

This is a free service through Google that quickly puts your business on the map. Literally. You can run specials and customers can post reviews. Also add your business to Google Maps and Bing. You are placing your business in more places online, thus raising your chances of being found by potential customers. All these cost is time.

4. Set up Google Alerts. (www.google.com/alerts)

You can receive free weekly email updates from Google search results about any topics you’re interested in tracking. You can track the names of your competitors, the name of your company, specific keyword search phrases, and anything else important to your company/industry. Alerts can be set for web, blog, news, video, and/or group searches. BackType (www.backtype.com) is a similar service that can push data to you and keep you updated on conversations on blogs based on keywords. If you’re monitoring where your company is being talked about and what is being said, you can be up-to-date on customers’ conversations and be able to respond to positive or negative comments.

5. Use social media.

Although you may have established a social media presence on Twitter and Facebook, you can increase participation and thus brand awareness with a little work. You can track inbound activity to your website by watching the referring sites in Google Analytics. You can also watch the number of Followers and Likes increase through Twitter and Facebook counters. Participation in contests, sales, referrals, etc. can all be monitored. And place the Twitter and Facebook logos on your printed and electronic marketing pieces. These icons act as an invitation for ad or flyer viewers to join your social media community now, even if they aren’t ready to buy until later.

6. Connect sites.

To make sure you cross-market your company efficiently, you should connect your Twitter account to Facebook so your tweets appear in your public updates on Facebook. This will leverage your time on Twitter and also update your Facebook fans. http://www.facebook.com/twitter/