Businesses need to be on top of the latest marketing techniques if they are to compete with their competition and gain market share over them. The new wave for now is marketing through social media channels. This article contains several suggestions for you to use social media to promote your own business.

Put a share button near the header of your blog entries that allows users to put the information on Facebook. That way your visitors can share your blog with their Facebook friends. This can really grow your blog’s visitor base, and some of your blog’s readers will inevitably become customers.

Invite all your friends and acquaintances to visit your social media sites. Even if they are not a customer, they can help make others aware of your company by just liking or following your page.

Let your existing customers know about your social media sites. When your existing customers follow you on most social media websites, all of their followers will know about it. This form of free advertising should not be overlooked. In addition, it will more than likely be taken more seriously than a paid ad would be, since it will be viewed as an endorsement of your product or service.

Offer exclusive discounts and perks to those who follow your social media profiles. Offer customers something exclusive that is unavailable elsewhere. For instance, you could hold a contest. If this doesn’t appeal to you, offer an exclusive item or savings for your social media fans instead. You can make announcements that are exclusive to your social media marketing sites.

The ideas outlined here offer some wonderful pointers for using social media outlets to increase traffic for your business. Giving your business an online presence is really easy to do with these new sites. Many businesses do not need a full blown and expensive website when using social media to market themselves.