Women have a distinct advantage in leveraging online technology to market themselves or their companies.

“How Women Are Shaping the Internet” indicates 75.8% of all women online visited a social networking site in May 2010, compared to 69.7% of men. Globally, women demonstrate higher levels of engagement with social networking sites than men. Although women account for 47.9% of total unique visitors to the social networking category, they consume 57% of pages and account for nearly 57% of total minutes spent on these sites.

Shespeaks.com recently conducted a fascinating study that looks mainly at women’s social habits online. Their key findings included the following about women:

•                Are more likely to say “connect with others” as top online activity (73%), compared to 40+ women (31%).
•                Are more likely to look at consumer generated content (28%) than 40+ (10%).
•                Are more likely to have profiles. 86% of 30 & under have profiles.

 

Women are naturally good at building relationships and networking, and that’s why we are so drawn to social media marketing. As business owners, we realize that connections are what makes or breaks a business, and engaging in conversations with our target market is the perfect way to build our businesses.

Below are five tips on how women can best utilize online marketing to promote their business:

Find Your Network

Clearly identify your company’s niche and don’t try to be all things to all people. Find people and colleagues that share your passions and establish win-win connections at every opportunity you create. Before you do this though, really identify which groups or people you want to connect with and why this connection will be valuable to them. Also, don’t be hesitant about worrying with fellow women entrepreneurs.  There’s a comradity that you won’t find with other networks. Research Linkedin groups that cater to women entrepreneurs or women businesses. Conduct simple keyword searches on Twitter to find conversations or companies that are passionate about working with women entrepreneurs.

Content Marketing

Google loves content and as you seek to proactively market your company, conduct content marketing to increase your Internet presence. The benefits of content marketing are many — article readers learn about your company and brand; articles link to your site thereby directing visitors to your website; and this all can help your placement on search engines. The best to you and your company!

Leverage Social Media

As a former woman entrepreneur, I have found one of the most cost-effective ways to market my business is by leveraging social media tools such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. I am able to increase visibility and build up my credibility by being an active part of these online communities.

Tell “Success Stories”

Women are typically more detail-oriented and are prone to feeling more empathetic toward people.  Strategically craft “success stories” about how you/your business helped clients solve problems. Storytelling-in-business is great because if your story fits the listener’s current problem, you just gave them a test drive of what it’s like to work with you. You’ve created connections and the opportunity to address prospective customers issue.

Use the Internet to Understand Your Customer

By tracking anonymous consumer behavior on your website, your company can display campaigns, content, offers and experiences tailored to an individual’s browsing habits. Watch what they search for and what they look at, not just what they buy. Also use online tools like Google Insights for Search and social media to see what your customers are talking about online or what types of content they are searching for.