The third and final installment of the social media marketing epic.

 Seventh: Your Linking Stinks

Extending from posting links, let’s talk posting links the right way.

First of all, don’t do it too often. If all you post is links, it becomes white noise and people ignore it, and likewise be sure you’re actually saying enticing things about the links you post for your site. Take these examples.

Bad example of posted link accompanying text:

This is awful for a number of reasons. One, the grammar’s slightly off. Comma between a series of adjectives, people.

Second, it looks spammy. Don’t build up your own link excessively with some hyperbolic adjectives. [Side note: There’s no better way to project spamminess than excessive exclamation points. Limit these.]

Third, who the heck is Wayne? We don’t know, so we don’t care.

Fourth, there’s no real excitement. This message claims intrigue, it doesn’t convey it.

PuTTin’ OuT A VALUABLE TIP: Post a photo from a blog separately as a photo then, write the post to include the link vs. allowing the link to populate. Basically think of a “read more” directional.

Good example of posted link accompanying text:

“I wish someone had told me this before I started taking out loans!”

This is the opposite of all the stuff from the first example. The grammar is solid, it states what the post is about while being mysterious (it doesn’t have to be obvious it’s for your site or a blog you wrote, as this makes it appear less like self-promotion), the exclamation point suggests playfulness rather than spamminess, and it hits on a common issue many people face. I’d click on that.

Eighth: You’re Not Offering Incentives

One of the best things about social media is that it provides you access to people who are already interested in you or who have already shopped with you. It’s instantaneous targeted audience.

Incentives work in two ways with social media marketing: increasing the market and sustaining the market.

Increasing the Market

You can use incentives to get more people to follow you or increase page likes, and in fact this is such a common tactic you’ve probably done it you’ve probably done it yourself in the past to get something free. Simple ways to do this are offering coupons, free reports, free e-books, and the like if people “Like” your page or follow you. You can use this on all clients you obtain, or even necessitate it by requiring them to join a mailing list to receive a digital receipt or other info. Some companies have even been able to create sales funnels of sorts involving social media, so try to get creative to find ways to ensure people join your social network every time they transact with you.

Sustaining the Market

Send out exclusive incentives to those already on your list. Make following you something of value, giving out coupons or early access to betas, new features, new products, or new content only to those on your social media list. Keep them engaged with things that are relevant and intriguing to them to ensure that they keep following you. Just make sure you send your current customers an email, text message, or whatever form of contact information you currently have letting them know there will be specific offers available to the people who “Like [you] on Facebook” or “Follow [you] on Twitter.” Let them know “how important their business is” and that “you want to engage with them in new ways.” They’ll love you for it!

Ninth: Just the Right Amount

Finally, be sure you’re not doing too much or too little.

Posting too much becomes a nuisance, and followers will ignore everything or simply unfollow you. Posting too little may result in them forgetting about you.

My advice: err on the side of too little. If you’re present enough for them to remember you but not so much that they’re always aware of your presence, the things you do post will be like surprises. Oh, they don’t post that often, so this must be important, your followers may think. Whereas just a bit too often, they may think, I read their last two posts, this can’t be anything that new.

 Next

Miss anything here? Check out Part 1 and Part 2 in the series to make sure you’ve got it all!