Tapping the vast audience of the social Web is a low-cost way to catapult a small-business brand onto the global arena. Building our brand using social media allows we to develop new (and strengthen existing) relationships, which often leads to everything from brand awareness, loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing.

Calgary, AB -- (SBWire) -- 10/24/2014 --While perhaps initially daunting, the trick is to break the process into manageable pieces. From creating our online destinations to connecting with influencers, following these five steps will get we on our way to building our brand and boosting our business.

1. Create branded online destinations.
This is the first step to raising brand awareness and loyalty. Companies with the most successful social media branding surround consumers with online experiences that allow them to select how they interact with the brand.

Consider using popular, free options like blogs, Twitter, Facebook,LinkedIn, WeTube, and so on. Of course, for small-business owners without the manpower to effectively manage too many destinations, we should consider testing each of these to determine which social media service we're most likely to stick with over the long haul. This will become our core destination. All our other online destinations should link back to the core.

2. Establish entry points.
One of the most important aspects to accomplishing this with our branded online destinations is to continually publish meaningful content that adds value to the reader's experience. The goal is to publish useful information that people will want to talk about -- and then share with their own audiences. This creates additional ways for people to find our branded destinations and it can lead to higher rankings from search engines like Google.

Here's one way to think about it: If we have a website with 10 pages of content, there are 10 ways for search engines to find our site. If we attach a blog to that website and write a new post every day for a year, we will have 365 more ways for Google to find our site, and our brand.

I call this the compounding effect of blogging. We cannot buy that kind of access to a global audience.

3. Locate our target audience and bring them back with we.
Where does our target audience already spend time? We need to spend time in those places, too, and engage in the conversations happening there.

Get started by conducting a Google search for keywords that consumers would be likely to use when searching for a business or products like ours.

Follow the paths that those consumers would follow and we're likely to find them.

Join relevant online forums and/or blogs, and write posts, publish comments and answer questions. Once that audience understands that we're there to genuinely offer useful information and not to self-promote, we can start leading them to our own branded destinations -- particularly our core branded online destination.

4. Connect with influencers.
As we search for our target audience, we should identify online influencers in those communities and get on their respective radars. To do so, leave comments on their blogs, follow them on Twitter and retweet their content. We can even email them to introduce ourself.

The key is to make sure they know our name and understand that we add value to the online conversation. This also exposes we to their audiences.

5. Give more than we receive.
Success in social media marketing depends on being useful and developing relationships. If we spend all of our time promoting then no one will want to listen to we. It's not a short-term tactic, rather a long-term strategy that can deliver sustainable, organic growth through ongoing, consistent participation.

A good rule of thumb is to apply the 80-20 rule to our social media marketing efforts. Spend no more than 20 percent of our time in self-promotional activities and conversations, and at least 80 percent on non-self-promotional activities. In time, we'll see our business grow from our efforts. And it starts with leveraging these fundamentals.

About Red Cherry
We are a digital marketing and software agency that stands out from all other agencies. Our team of talented and creative individuals work closely with you to deliver rich and engaging solutions that drive qualified traffic to your website and convert that traffic into sales. Red Cherry has offices in both Kelowna, BC and Calgary, AB. We work closely with you to develop a comprehensive digital marketing campaign for Facebook, Google, Twitter, Remarketing (largest ad network), Pay Per Click, SEO, and more. Providing website design in Calgary for over 10 years.

We are also a full scale software development firm specializing in web development and apps development.

Let's chat +1 888 401 6668 or visit http://www.redcherryinc.ca/