Many websites have social media buttons in the header of their website. This is the wrong location to place them. People read your website from the top to the bottom. Once they have finished reading your article they will be left with the decision as what to do next. If they like what they have read they may want to share it with their friends by using social media. This is why your buttons should be at the bottom of your article. Do not make your readers have to scroll up the page to try and find them. Place them within easy clickable distance.

Now remember I said that if the visitor to your website liked what they had read they would want to share that with their friends. Why then do so many website owners not give their readers the tools to do that? The social media buttons at the bottom should be "Share" buttons and not "follow me" buttons. Click on a few of your favorite websites and check what type of social media button they are using. Most of their buttons go straight to their company profile page on either Twitter, facebook, Google+, LinkedIn or Pinterest where you are expected to then click the follow me button. This is not what your reader wanted to do. They wanted to tell their friends about the great article they had read or product they had found. Add social media "Share" buttons. Give them the tools they want to use. What would you rather have, one new follower or potentially 200+ people being recommended to visit your website? Have a look at the code for my Social Media Share buttons at the bottom of this article. Click them and see how they work. Do a Google search for "twitter share buttons", "facebook share buttons" and "Google+ share buttons" to find all the different options

To conclude this tutorial let me go over the ground rules about using social media for marketing. Do not try sell immediately. The hint on how you behave is in the name. It is a "Social" medium. Try to be a human. Small talk breaks the ice. Ask people question and their opinions. Learn from your potential customers what they want in a product, what their needs are. Small talk is not expected from a company but is very welcomed. I am always on the look out for people that know how to use social media correctly. When I find such skilled people I am sometimes able to give a reward by passing extra work to them. As an example I was out shopping at a local farmers market in London and using twitter commented on how well run it was and that the sausages were yummy. I received a tweet back from the lady running the social media account for the market organizers saying how pleased they were that I was enjoying my time at the market. She then asked me a question. That showed me that she knew how to use social media search to find potential customers and how to interact with them. She did not bombard me with a sales pitch.

Another time, after posting a status update that I was going to a meeting I received a message from a local cafe suggesting I pick up a free coffee or a 50% off breakfast. The owner was using location search to find my message and responded with an enticing call to action.  I had never been to this cafe before and it was very pleasantly decorated and furnished inside. I ended up helping her with the cafe's website and giving her additional advice on her social media marketing activities.

Remember to say thank you. This is not something that many marketing staff are trained to do. Good manners really helps your company's image. If I make a mistake in an order I go over-board in trying to fix the problem. I will immediately send out the missing items and add a box of extra free stuff as a way of apologizing. This sort of customer service pays off as word soon spreads. If someone shares your post with their friends, thank them. If someone on twitter retweets one of your messages say thank you. Simple courtesies go a long way to enhance your reputation.