How to Monetize Your Social Media

Source: Inc.com

(img source: The M Group Creative)

According to Inc.com, the fashion giant HauteLook used 8thBridge to their advantage and that “Diane von Furstenberg generated more than $100,000 in sales in one day, 40 percent of which came from new customers. Users were given a $10 coupon for every new member that they brought in.” Wouldn’t we all like to get a cool $100k in a single day for our business? Monetizing social media can help your sales, but it does take effort. Here are a few good ways to get the most out of your social media.

Get Your Brand Out There

Before you start working your social media, before the first tweet, status share or YouTube video hits the broadband, you’re going to need to know your brand down cold. This is not a time to guess at the image you are trying to project or the slogan you want to reach the masses. Develop a quick tag that you can use in everything, make it small enough to be a hashtag preferably. It doesn’t have to be complicated, your brand just needs to be remembered. #GotMilk, anyone?

Get a Promo

Instead of pouring money into print ads or radio spots, you’re going to want to see how that money can go into a promotional spot instead. Keep in mind that you can’t use your social media as a 24/7 hard sell. You’ll want to offer eight or more posts between and “salesy” posts. You want your customers to like your page or follow you for what you offer them, not feel like their only their for your benefit. With this in mind, every so often, offer your followers and fans a special coupon to be used with an order. Track what social media is doing the most for you by categorizing these. This can simply be a hashtag promo code for the ones you use on Twitter and a different code for Facebook.

Educate and Humor Them

Pepper in posts of how-to videos, Q&A articles, and just funny non-offensive memes. You are human; you want your fans and followers to believe that you are too. They are more apt to buy from you when they are in a habit of checking your updates on a regular basis. By offering them quality that doesn’t cost them anything, you’re giving them a reason to keep buying from you.

Ad Me

Do not discount the Facebook Ads and Google Adwords. According to the eMarketer research firm, “Facebook display advertising revenues will grow 80.9% this year to $2.19 billion”. It is worth a few bucks to see how well it will work for you. Get something sharp and snazzy, something that nails your brand down in a few words, and get you a Facebook ad. It is precious little money to test how well it will work for you.

Contests and Giveaways

Who doesn’t love something for free? A contest or a giveaway is a wonderful way to engage your social media followers and encourage them to promote your material. While giving away a gift card or other freebie can help with getting people to promote your brand, if you are able to offer a giveaway that’s related to your brand, or at the very least is an incentive that’s relevant to their needs or wants, you’ll be able to create a much deeper connection with your followers.

This is by far not an exhaustive list of the ways that you can monetize your social media followers to help in your business bottom line. It is, however, a good jumping off point on how to start thinking to brainstorm more ways that you can benefit from your social media. Remember, no matter which path you go down for monetizing social media, it’s important that the content that you’re sharing is engaging, interesting and relevant to those people that are following you.