Hashtags and Social Media Marketing Power

As an online business or even a small to medium-sized business, social media marketing is a serious way to market your business. Now, while most business owners know this [or at least have an idea], it is still likely that they don't know just how much social media marketing can grow their business, helping them surpass their competitors. This is equally true of online businesses and small to medium sized businesses.

For those of you who are familiar with social media, I'm sure you know about hastags - you know, the # symbol that everyone puts in front of a word or phrase they want/need to stand out. While this hashtag frenzy can be a bit over the top with everyone over using hashtags, they are imperative for social media marketing.

The article below is about the use of hastags and how they can "pack serious media marketing power":

Q: I’m operating my fledgling company without a budget for advertising and marketing. Can I use social media hashtags to drive sales and build my business? If so, can you offer tips so I get the best results for my efforts? 

A: For the uninitiated, hashtags—the # sign before phrases in social media—have changed how small businesses connect with customers. First used by Twitter in 2007, hashtags have been adopted by Pinterest, Instagram and other platforms. The symbol packs serious power. 

Search #SparkandHustle (that’s my company) on these sites, and you’ll see what people are saying about my conferences for entrepreneurs. I’ve connected via hashtags with thousands of people to promote my business. Joining the ongoing conversation is an effective way to target audiences, serve them better and compete with rivals. In doing so, you should focus on two areas: 

1. Incorporating hashtags in your social media posts to attract new fans and followers.2. Searching hashtags to find people interested in what you have to offer. 

Here are some ways to achieve objective No. 1. First, whenever you share content, include a relevant hashtag so your post can be found when your target audience searches for related help. 

You should also piggyback on hashtags that are popular and tweet them, suggests Lena West of Influence Expansion Academy, an online business growth school. “If you work with small businesses, the #SMB hashtag is often used in tweets related to small-business concerns. If you use it, those tweets will come up on searches for that hashtag, leading to more visibility for your company.” 

And you should create your own custom hashtag to enable anyone interested in your area of expertise to join the conversation, says Dana Lynch, whose Amplify-Mobile develops apps for small businesses. “Use it across platforms—a hashtag is useful only if followers know about it—so promote it everywhere users can find your brand,” she says.

If you're a small to medium sized business that has yet to implement a successful social media marketing campaign, it's due time. Social media marketing is a way for you to build relationships with your current or prospective clients and grow your business -- faster than many of your competitors. Today there are many companies that you can hire -- and for a reasonable price -- to manage your social media marketing campaigns, like Classic Image. 

These companies will handle the day-to-day marketing needs of your campaigns while you can focus on what matters most... growing your business.

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Innovative Ways To Market Your Start-Up Business (and Successfully) Through Social Media Marketing

Over the last ten years technology has advanced quite a bit, including the way that social media is used. First generation social media platforms like Myspace were basically used by people to connect with other like-minded individuals. It was used to share your life and everything about you, including your up and coming band, short films, etc. Today, however, social media is so much more than that -- especially for small to medium sized businesses and start-up businesses around the globe. In all essence, social media is something that can help you make your brand go viral.

As a start-up business it is very important to understand just how important social media is when it comes to marketing your business and the growth of your company. The article below talks about three different ways that start-ups are driving results through social media:

1. Warby Parker  

Social strategy: Encouraging user-generated content that drives brand awareness. 

Warby Parker, a New York City-based online seller of vintage-inspired eyeglasses and sunglasses, is using social media to reinvent how people shop for and purchase eyewear. It does this by shipping customers five pairs of frames that they select from Warby Parker's website in packaging that encourages them to take pictures of themselves wearing the glasses and then post the shots on their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. Customers can take five full days to test the glasses before shipping them back and, the company hopes, placing an order.
The strategy behind the Home Try-On campaign is for shoppers to get feedback from their social-media friends and contacts on which pair fits them best, while generating a positive, social buzz around Warby Parker's brand "in a natural, organic way," says co-founder and co-CEO David Gilboa. Customers who post photos of themselves in frames are buying at twice the rate as those who don't, he says. 

Shoppers seeking opinions outside of their own social-media circles can submit pictures to Warby Parker's Facebook page for additional feedback. Home Try-On participants have posted some 25,000 images on the company's Facebook Timeline and more than 40,000 on Instagram since the promotion was started in February 2010.  

"Don't view social media as just another way to push your marketing messaging," Gilboa advises. "Think of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as critical customer service gateways and take the time to respond to each and every customer who reaches out to you there. Each comment, photo and tweet gives you an opening to directly communicate with them on a meaningful, personalized basis that encourages brand loyalty."




The founders of Pork Barrel BBQ created their own social-media platform for BBQ fanatics.  

2. Pork Barrel BBQ   

Social strategy: Creating its own social community.  

Who needs Facebook when you can invent your own social-media network specifically tailored to your target demographic? That's what Heath Hall and Brett Thompson did in February 2011, creating Backyard BBQ, a social-media network for barbeque enthusiasts.
The co-founders of Pork Barrel BBQ, an Alexandria, Va.-based barbeque sauce, restaurant and catering company, noticed that barbeque fans from around the world were interacting on internet message boards and forums that didn't allow them to share, comment on or like photos and videos. In response, the company developed a free online social space for grillers of all skill levels, from backyard beginners to competitive pit masters, so they can swap recipes, cook-off stories and pictures and videos from the pit.  

Hall and Thompson invited legendary pit masters, such as Johnny Trigg, Pat Burke, Rod Gray and Melissa Cookston, to join the social network and help spread the word in their own social networks and grilling circles. Backyard BBQ has grown to 4,312 members from in the U.S. and in more than 20 different countries, Hall says, and it is driving "a significant amount of traffic" to the company's main website where people can buy sauces and rubs.  

From concept to launch, it took about six months for Hall and his Pork Barrel BBQ co-founder Brett Thompson to develop BBQ Backyard. They developed the platform using Ning, an online service that lets individuals and businesses quickly, relatively easily design, create and host their own custom social networks. Ning offers a 14-day free trial and basic monthly prices range between $25 and $99. Hall says it cost about $500 in all to get BBQ Backyard off the ground.  

Pork Barrel BBQ has its own member profile on Backyard BBQ, of course, featuring blog posts, how-to cooking videos, recipes and promotional event photos. Hall encourages fellow small-business owners to launch their own specialized social networks "if there is a void in their particular market." Hall says the benefits "can be enormous in terms of networking, spreading your brand message, learning about new opportunities and giving back to the community."

You can read the rest of the article here.

If you're a start-up business that is looking to grow your company there are a various ways that the use of social media can make that happen. Classic Image is a creatively driven marketing and design company that thrives on helping businesses grow; a company that has helped hundreds of start-up businesses with their marketing and social media campaign, providing excellent results for a reasonable price. The company is insanely creative, coming up with innovative ways to grow your business, regardless of your niche. Give them a ring! 

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