You’re the coolest thing on the internet. But yesterday no one had heard of you, or your brand.

How does it happen? Hint; it’s not luck.

A successful social media marketing strategy can transform your business. But it requires research, planning, and continuous action to be successful.

And the first step in creating a strategy that works is choosing the best social media platform for your business.

You have to know how to choose a social media platform. It won’t matter how good your marketing is if it’s not seen by the right people.

Ask Yourself One Question

When you decide which social media platform to use there’s one important question you need to ask yourself. Where are my customers?

Just because all of your friends are on Facebook doesn’t mean your customers are. You need to go where they hang out.

How Do You Know Where Your Customers Are?

Ask them. Send emails, conduct surveys, talk to them directly. Get creative. How ever you decide to do it, you need to find out where they like to interact online. There are way too many social media platforms for you to start guessing.

Stalk your competitors. If a competitor is having success on social media copy them. Where are they most active? If you’re not sure try going to their website and look for links to their social media profiles.

Popular Social Media Demographics

Here are some stats for the major social media networks. It should give you a little head start in your research.

But remember, there’s a lot of different social media networks. So research thoroughly.

• Facebook: The most used social media network platform, 67% of adult internet users say they’re Facebook users. Facebook is more popular with young adults and slightly favors women.

Facebook posts are great for linking to articles, asking questions, and using images. Shorter posts have better response rates than longer posts.

• Twitter: 16% of internet users use Twitter. Genders are split almost equally, but it’s more popular with black people, followed by Hispanic, and white. Like Facebook it’s most popular with adults under 30.

Twitter conversations are very short, only 140 characters long. Twitter is great for quick, real-time conversations.

• Pinterest:The online scrapbooking website has exploded in the few short years it’s been around. If you want to target wealthy white women this is the place to launch your campaign. 15% of internet users are Pinterest users. And women outnumber men by 5-to–1.

Pinterest is all about images. Upload interesting visuals to get people talking.

• Google Plus: If Pinterest is for the girls, then Google Plus is for the guys. Over 230 million people are registered on Google+ and the crowd is very tech savvy. The largest group of users are young adults.

Google Plus users love long detailed posts that are helpful or entertaining. It’s more closely related to a blogging platform than the other social media networks. Images are also very important.

Observe and Learn

When you think you’ve found the best social media platform for you business, don’t rush to build your strategy around it just yet. Get a feel for it first.

Learn how it works. How people communicate. What people respond to.

Yes, all of this can take a while. But laying a strong foundation is important.

Which social media platform has worked best for your business? Which has been a waste of time?

The post How To Choose A Social Media Platform For Your Business appeared first on Matt G. Dawson.

People want your help. Customers want to talk to you. Directly. They want a human face amidst the digital noise.

It’s not about you anymore.

If I was writing this article in 1998 it would be titled ”Why Your Business Needs a Website.” But thankfully we’ve moved beyond baggy clothes, dreadful music, and ugly websites.

Today you need to engage and communicate directly with your customers. And the best way to do that is by using social media. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus.

You have to have a social media marketing strategy.

It’s Not About You

Engaging with people online doesn’t involve selling. But by doing it right and following a proven strategy you will sell. A lot.

Have you ever started a Facebook page or a blog because you were told “it’s the cool thing to do”? Did you create a few posts but then abandon it because there was no benefit? No traction? Only precious time wasted?

You were probably trying to sell. It’s time to shift your thinking. You need to help people. You need to talk about your topic or niche in a way that’s interesting and promotes conversation. You need to join the conversation. Reply to questions. Be human.

You can do this through your blog, through your Facebook Fan Page, through your Twitter account, or any other social media platform. But it needs to be consistent. And genuine.

Reach More People

As you engage, start conversations, and help people, more people will follow you. People love to share helpful articles and advice. If you can make people’s lives better or easier they will love you. There will be engagement and social sharing.

By staying consistent with this strategy your number of fans will increase gradually at first. But you will gain momentum. Stick with it and you’ll reach a tipping point. It’s like a snowball effect. The bigger your audience the faster it will grow, and the more momentum you’ll get.

And Google loves it when people are talking about you. Google will begin to see you as an authority on the subject you’re talking about. And you’ll receive a boost in search engine traffic as a result. This is especially important for smaller local businesses. Google will place you at the top of your local search results and you will become the authority in your area.

You’re An Authority

It may take a while to become known as the authority on your subject. For smaller local businesses you can get there quickly. Most of your competitors know nothing about engagement. They constantly spam their dwindling Facebook fans. It’s all about them. Not you.

But you know better, don’t you? You have a strategy. You help people, you have conversations, and you engage. That’s why you’re the authority. And that’s why you’re making sales, and more money. Even though you’re not actually selling.

You’re just being human.

You Don’t Need a Big Budget

The beauty of a smart marketing strategy built around engagement is that it doesn’t have to cost you a cent. You can match the social marketing efforts of any big business and achieve the same results. It just takes time. And hard work.

An hour a day is enough to get started. If you don’t have the time to commit to an effective social media strategy then you should consider hiring someone to help you. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Consistency and a smart strategy is the key.

Image by Rosaura Ochoa.

The post It’s Not About You! Why You Need a Social Media Marketing Strategy. appeared first on Matt G. Dawson.

If you’re a freelance writer and you’ve set up a WordPress blog to showcase your work there are a few plugins you can install to make life a bit easier.

You don’t need to install every new plugin available. Having too many will slow down your website. Use only what you need.

Here are the plugins that I consider essential for writers.

Google Author Plugin

Google is doing their best to take over world. They want everyone connected to their services. And their search engine keeps getting more refined with every update, as they attempt to filter out the junk and provide searchers with quality results and content.

It’s extremely important for Google to recognise you as an author of quality content. And Google’s recently introduced authorship project will allow that to happen.

By linking all of the articles you write, on your own blog or anywhere across the web, back to your Google profile Google will start to see you as an important author of quality content. And this will give you a boost in the search rankings.

So it’s imperative that you set up a Google Plus profile now, and link everything you write back to your profile.

The easiest way to do that is by using a theme with Google Authorship built-in, or via plugin.

• Google Author Link

After you’ve installed the plugin you need to add a link back to your website from your Google Plus Profile. To do this click here and add your website as a custom link under the ’Contributor To’ section.

Editorial Calendar

One of the hardest things to do as a writer is keeping to deadlines. It’s not so bad when you’re working for clients because you’ll go the extra mile for them. Won’t you!

But it’s difficult to stay on schedule when you’re writing for yourself. Having an editorial calendar will keep your blog organised, and give you an easy overview of your publishing schedule.

By using the popular plugin called Editorial Calendar you can see everything in one view, drag and drop posts to different dates, manage drafts, and edit post from the calendar.

It’s a must have for any writer.

• Editorial Calendar

Spelling and Grammar

You’re a writer. Spelling and grammar is your thing! You better get it right, because nothing will look sillier than a writer’s website littered with spelling and grammar errors.

It’s best to have a back up. And by using the After The Deadline proofreading service you’ll never have to worry about basic grammar mistakes again.

After The Deadline has now been built into the JetPack suit of plugins.

• JetPack

Conclusion

These are what I consider are the most important plugins for writers. Yes, there’s only three. That’s because I don’t believe you should install too many plugins. Each plugin can slow you website down a bit more. It’s best to just use what you need and what will actually help you achieve your aims.

There are extra plugins that I think are essential for every WordPress blog, and I’ll cover that in a future article.

Feel free to share any other plugins that you think are essential for writers in the comments.

The post 3 Essential WordPress Plugins For Writers appeared first on Matt G. Dawson.