7 Tactics on 7 Social Media Sites to Promote Your BusinessIf it seems like everyone you know is on some new fancy social media site that perhaps you’ve never even heard of, you’re not alone in feeling out of the loop. People are experimenting with all different types of ways to share and communicate with each other, and these start-ups have had varied success. It can be so overwhelming it makes you reluctant to consider its potential to promote your business and brand.

However, there are 7 major sites out there that have stood the test of time and won’t be going anywhere in the near future. Tapping into the resources available through these channels should be an essential part of your online marketing strategy. No matter what business or industry you’re in, these 7 tactics will help boost your product into the limelight, as well as your sales.

Facebook ContestThere are many reasons a contest on Facebook is beneficial for your business. The most important reason is that you are stirring up excitement amongst your audience and community. As your audience shares the details of the contest with their friends, you will start to see more and more page views coming your way.

There are essentially 4 different types of contests you should promote:

Sweepstakes Submit an essay Submit a photo Submit a video

The latter three will provide extra content on your site you can share, which will make your page look busy and well-supported. And by giving away something through a sweepstakes you are rewarding your audience for their loyalty and support. This will keep them around and interested for all your future updates. Contests increase traffic, participation and buzz regarding your product or services, which coincide with every marketer’s hopes and wishes.

Retweet Your Heart Out

A wise person once told me regarding Twitter, “You make a lot more friends pressing the ‘retweet’ button than you do the ‘reply.’” A retweet on Twitter is a great way to make a new friend. Do some searches in Twitter and see what conversations are going on that pertain to your industry. Then pick a few tweets from others that you think are worth sharing and go ahead and do them a solid. People are more likely to follow you as appreciation, and once others catch on to the fact that you are in the habit of retweeting to your audience, people will start to flock in hopes of getting your attention. Eventually you can create a private conversation list to focus on people who can help promote your company, such as:

People who inspire you in business

People who inspire you personally People who are fun to talk with

Soon you’ll have an army of loyal tweeters willing to go to the front lines on your behalf to share your services with others.

Instagram – Hashtag That

Research has found a correlation exists between hashtags and number of likes an Instagram post receives. People love hashtags, and so should you. Hashtagging your photos will enable them to be found through searches. Find a trending hashtag that’s relevant to your marketing strategy and participate with images from your brand.

Be wary though. Too many hashtags in one post can be a bit too much to handle, and comes off as spammy. Take time to research popular hashtags to ensure the hashtag you commit to is active, and get yourself in the mix. Gain new followers and a larger reach by tapping into popular hashtags like #instagood, #latergram or #throwbackthursdays.

Pin Like SEOThe basic idea behind Pinterest is to create virtual bulletin boards on which you attach your images. Boards are designed as categorization of images, with each image containing a text component that describes or identifies the pin. You can enhance your Pinterest page with some tricks used from SEO.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Research keywords. Try a tool like Google AdWords Keyword Planner to find popular keywords related to your business and your pins.

Add your keyword/keywords to your pin titles. Add your keyword/keywords to your pin descriptions. Add your keyword/keywords to your pin image file names.

Pinterest is a powerful tool many are just now becoming familiar with.

Share Content via Google +Launch a Google+ profile for your business, and start a Google+ community on a topic related to your business. Frequently post information in both the community and your Google+ business profile to keep followers interested. Post interesting content to your customer and other business-related circles and encourage feedback or comments. Content might include your blog posts, interesting articles, product reviews, announcements about special promotions and other exclusive offers, or news.

YouTube – Call to ActionVideos can be a powerful tool in the content and social media marketing world. You have a captive audience listening to you directly with interest. This is a perfect opportunity for you to hammer home important calls to action that can translate to sales. If your video is a how-to and your goal is to inform,

then use a card to send your audience to discover more tips on your website. Include the link to the “how to” category on your blog. Every week, post a short (two minutes or less) video of yourself offering tips for your customers, such as demonstrating how to use a product that you sell.

LinkedIn Showcase PagesLinkedIn showcase pages are an extension of your company page and can be used to highlight certain brands or product lines. It is basically, a niche Company Page that your followers can opt in to learn more about a certain product or sub-brand. They allow you to customize your messages for different segments of your audience. LinkedIn users can follow showcase pages for topics or products that they’re interested in. This means that the content they see in their news feeds will be more focused and relevant to them, which is likely to result in higher engagement. Showcase pages can appear as results in LinkedIn’s general search bar, so it’s a best practice to use your company name as the first word in the title of each Showcase page and the keyword shortly thereafter.

Social media can be tough to tackle for any business, but with a well-rounded strategy that utilizes the potential of these influential sites, you will be well on your way.