Your blog is undoubtedly the most powerful online marketing tool you have at your disposal but if you think that you can rely on SEO and cleverly written post titles to drive traffic your way then think again.
Your blog coupled with the right amount of social media sharing is an effective marketing combination. The question I am often asked is what social networks are best to promote your business and ultimately get more work.
There’s no real answer to that other than there isn’t just one. There isn’t really a typical client for every type of business but there are a few generalisations which can help you.
This marketing campaign is titled The Fabulous Five because it is about identifying at least 5 different social networks where you can drive traffic and potential clients to your site.
Why 5?
Well if you have the time to share on 10 different platforms then don’t let me stop you! Using 5 different social media platforms should be manageable enough and it also gives you a varied enough spread.
Where to start?
Firstly we have to deal with the big three elephants in the room.
Google+
Not the biggest and to be honest not that effective in driving many ‘traditional’ clients your way but in terms of SEO benefits it has to be top of your Fabulous Five list
Facebook and Twitter
Won’t do a thing for you in regards to SEO but they can have an enormous impact on the success of your marketing.
If you decide to use these three then that only leaves two more social networks to choose from.
If you do a lot of b2b work then LinkedIn is an obvious choice.
If you produce any sort of video or slideshows then stick with the Google products and use YouTube.
For large increases in traffic choose a bookmarking site like StumbleUpon. Be warned, traffic might be high but the quality of referral is never as good.
If you want to know where all the girls are then direct your browser to Pinterest.
You might want to concentrate on more niche local networks that can offer you a high quality, albeit lower volume, referral.
You might also want to have a network which is all about photography. Sites like Flickr and 500px might not get you many bookings but they are good for connecting you to other photographers.
What is important is having a social media platform for each area of your business. Some content you will only share on one of your five whereas for other types of content you will share everywhere. In an ideal world you could have 5 social media pipe streams for every area of your business. In reality this is too time consuming for a small operation to make a success of.
What next?
Once you have your 5 then you need to develop your marketing plan (Try out Get Your Social Media 5 A Day). Consistency is important but be aware of what works on different platforms. You might get away with 20 tweets a day but if you start doing that on Facebook then people will be quick to click the unlike button.
Over time you will get a better feeling for what works and where. In 6 months assess where you are and what has been working for you. You’ll know if a certain area needs work or if a particular network has dwindled in popularity ….. believe, trust and act on your stats and insights!
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Michael has been working as a photographer for the last ten years. In that time he has shot over 100,000 peoples’ portraits and worked in four different continents. In 2001 Michael graduated with a degree in photography from Manchester Metropolitan University.