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Free Stuff Marketing Revolution On Social Media Sites

Guest post by: John Clark

Article Overview: Using social media as a business tool has helped many brands reach a much wider consumer base. Offering those consumers a free way to try something new is an effective and popular method to increase awareness. The old fashioned word of mouth advertising has undergone a digital update with the power of social media. Friends and associates can share their opinions of companies and products more quickly than ever before. By offering some incentive for their participation in an advertising campaign, it's easy to convert a curious potential customer into a spokesperson to their friends and family.

Free Stuff Marketing Revolution On Social Media Sites

Using social media as a business tool has helped many brands reach a much wider consumer base. Offering those consumers a free way to try something new is an effective and popular method to increase awareness. The old fashioned word of mouth advertising has undergone a digital update with the power of social media. Friends and associates can share their opinions of companies and products more quickly than ever before. By offering some incentive for their participation in an advertising campaign, it's easy to convert a curious potential customer into a spokesperson to their friends and family. When a user clicks a link on a social media site like facebook or twitter, giving them a simple and easy way to notify their friends or followers of your site is vital. A 'Share' button can allow the user to alert their network instantly that they've taken an interest in your website. Offering them some reward for sharing it such as a contest or free sample will increase their likelihood of clicking. Interactivity is an important measure of success in social media marketing. If your audience has reason to share their thoughts on your page, it's a powerful way of gauging the success of your marketing campaign. Be careful of posting only advertising type messages, try to include sociability into your social marketing for an approachable and friendly presence and will boost your page's interaction rates.

The word 'free' is like a gleaming beacon that captures the attention of consumers. Use it carefully, the power of a free offer is two-sided. If demand for a free item outweighs supply, that can lead to disappointed customers with a decreased trust and opinion of your brand. Marketing your offering as a contest and giving out fewer but more valued items is a good way to combat the risk of a runaway campaign. The potential customers will still visit and share your page in hopes of winning a full-sized product, and fewer will be disappointed by not winning a contest than by not receiving a sample they requested.

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Article Tags: advertising campaign, business tool, consumer base, consumers, free stuff, friends and family, marketing, participation, spokesperson, word of mouth, word of mouth advertising
Referred by: http://www.saveonquotes.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g] Hi Jeff, Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?
Re: Should Evan add a "Social Media Marketing" category to the f - Hi, Online Marketing would be a great title, and having sub categories would make it even better, there would plenty of categories to choose from, Social Media, SEO, Article Marketing and yes even Affiliate Marketing to name just a few, great looking site btw Jeff, take care, Carol
Re: Should Evan add a "Social Media Marketing" category to the f - Just as an update, Evan has extended the poll's expiration date and says he'd like to see at least 25 "yes" votes before implementing the new category. Moreover, it would probably be called "Online Marketing" instead of Social Media Marketing".
Kevin's Case Study #11 - A New Forum Category? - Hi Everyone, 2009 is a new year and I'd like to create a new forum category to jazz things up! In the past, there's been some interest voiced about adding a "Social Media Marketing", "Online Marketing", "Internet Marketing" or "Online Promotion" category. I'll implement [u:1g2tv6tf]ONE[/u:1g2tv6tf] of those new categories, but can someone first tell me what the difference would be between the existing "Marketing" section and one of those new options mentioned above? Thanks


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