Quick Start Guide To Social Media And Your Business

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1 By Blair Evan Ball Quick Start Guide To Social Media And Your Business Social media is a hot topic these days. People are spending time tweeting, updating their blogs and meeting on Facebook. They are using these venues as a means to keep in touch with friends and family, as well as make business contacts for the present and future. If you re not familiar with social media or networking, this quick-start guide to social media will help you learn what it is and how it can benefit your business. Social media is how people can share informational online content. There are many different formats and platforms which are available for those wishing to add social media to their online marketing strategies. Online social media or networking websites are quite similar to traditional communities. They give people a place to come together to discuss common topics, or search for particular goods and services. Social media can be as simple as instant messages or something as complex such as creating a squeeze page within a blog. All of these methods can be used to help you market the goods or services you have to offer. Implementing Social Media There are many internet marketers who find themselves more successful than they could have imagined once they started to comprehend and use social media.

2 Not every marketer requires the same type of medium, so spending time in research will help you learn how and what choice is best for your business. Forums to blogs, social networking sites to podcasts and everything in between, can be used to put additional power behind the marketing techniques you use to get your business noticed. Many of the available social media sites provide you with a profile page. This page can be considered the gateway not only to you personally but to your website. It s the ideal spot for describing yourself, as well as what your online business or website has to offer. By simply providing a link to your website on a forum or comment at a blog, new unique visitors will be able find your website. People succeed daily with their online businesses, with much of their profits being generated by some sort of social media marketing. By taking the time to create profiles depicting your professional side, and possibly even adding audio and video segments as well, you will have worldwide advertisements working for you. That s every day, all day. Goal Definition Social media can bring marketing success to your business in many ways. It s important to know what exactly it is you re trying to achieve before you start. This will enable you to track your success and tweak your various methods easier to work on once things have started rolling with your business. Quick-Start Guide to Social Media and Your Business Page 2

3 There are many different aspects of marketing in which social media can assist. Whether you are aiming at driving traffic to your site, generating referrals and sales, or just plain having a way to communicate with both current and prospective clients, social media makes this entire process much easier to accomplish. There are a few things to keep in mind, however. The simple goal of accumulating connections through social media outlets is not the only thing necessary for a successful business. Having lists of thousands of followers or friends in your various social media platforms may be nice, but it will not make you the successful businessperson you are striving for if nobody does anything but make small talk. You want to establish a plan for not only obtaining these followers, but converting them into actual paying clientele. Another option would be to add them as associates or affiliates. It s important to have some type of product or service each of these potential clients can relate to, in reference to their own needs. Yet blatant sales pitches could result in rapid loss of your followers or contacts. Try to find a happy medium per se, where you will be providing quality information or suggestions these contacts will find useful. Quick-Start Guide to Social Media and Your Business Page 3

4 Is it Worth the Trouble? Many business owners have yet to join the ranks of those using social media, and there are a few reasons for it. Some may not have taken the time to dig into it, discovering the power it can provide. It s possible they don t understand it, simply because they haven t fully tried to understand the concept. Others may think it will take too much of their time to properly learn the workings of social media marketing. Either they are weary of the amount of time it could potentially take them to learn, or they are unsure of where to find quality information of their own. They may be opting to skip this step in their marketing plan altogether. Their reasons may be totally different as well. Before getting into details about some of the more popular platforms available to you, consider this: Getting your business up and running with social media doesn t need to be a difficult process. Narrowing down your options to those most powerful to your success will not only save you time getting things in place, but it will also cut down on the amount of upkeep time required. Social Media Options There was once a time not that far back in Web history where the norm were static sites, consisting of one person or company s information. Any situation where contact with people related to a website was required, it was only possible if a contact number or Quick-Start Guide to Social Media and Your Business Page 4

5 address was added to the webpage. The aspect of being interactive was not one considered prior to website creation. Times have changed, and with them came interactive web design with the capability of becoming money-making businesses with an option for getting questions answered online, participating in various activities and other innovations of the social media realm. Blogs: A term combined from web logs. They started as a means to journal about one s life and have quickly evolved for use with online businesses. They allow for communication with potential clients in a way traditional websites don't. Popular software for blogs include: Word Press, Blogger, etc. With the sheer volume of people on the internet daily, there s no end to the potential number of subjects and interests being researched. This gives a blog owner an opportunity for their own information s access not only a probability, but also provides them with a means of adding profit to their blog as well. Social Networking: Although not a new concept by any means, the internet has brought social networking to a different level entirely. No longer does this term refer to meeting in person for a weekly meeting revolving around a certain interest or pastime. Starting primarily with the advent of instant messaging, the entire concept has grown in leaps and bounds. Now there are sites Quick-Start Guide to Social Media and Your Business Page 5

6 dedicated to nothing but social networking; from MySpace which is used primarily by the younger crowd, to networks divided by interests, ethnicity and just about everything in between. Most social networking sites, however, don t have specific distinctions such as these. Members simply join the site, and find their own interest groups or niches within which they feel compatible. It is through these sites that many people choose to enter their business information into their profile or information page. Popular choices for social networking sites include: MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Linkedin.com, Squidoo.com and Twitter.com. RSS Feed: Also known as Rich Site Summary, RSS is a web-feed format that enables your subscribers to receive updates to your blog; website or other information directly to their chosen feed aggregator or reader. Your readers simply enter your feed s URL into their reader, or they can click on an icon in any browser to begin the subscription process. Most web hosting packages or blog sites will have everything you need to create this option for your readers. Social Bookmarking: Just as you probably have found yourself frequently bookmarking your favorite sites to your internet browser, social bookmarking is the process of bookmarking and categorizing your personal site preferences as well. The difference is, social bookmarking allows you to share these preferences with other people online. Quick-Start Guide to Social Media and Your Business Page 6

7 This invaluable tool can be used for research purposes, as a means for doctors, lawyers and other professionals to easily share pertinent information or files, or simply for friends and family to share links of mutual interest. Popular social bookmarking sites include: digg.com, del.icio.us, reddit.com and stumbleupon.com just to name a few. Podcasts, Webcasts and Video: You may be asking yourself if you or your business really need these included on your website. Whether as a part of your blog or your main website, the fact of the matter is the higher the quality of your content, the higher your chances of receiving a good page ranking with search engines. This makes is easier for you or your site to be found by those people searching for what you have to offer. By having such things as different types of audios or videos on your site, you re not only providing your visitors with better quality information which keeps them on your page longer. You can also give things your own personal touch, providing a voice or image for your potential clients and customers to connect with. Measuring Your Social Media Success Now that your research towards social media platforms is complete, it s important to know how to tell if your structure is going to work for your business. This will be a time of potential trial and error. You may find a need for some tweaking, or even changing the way you have set up your social media marketing. Starting with a baseline of reasonable Quick-Start Guide to Social Media and Your Business Page 7

8 goals, you can analyze your site s progress and activity on a regular basis to ensure those goals are being met. One of the first and easiest ways to measure how your social media platforms are working is by the number and tone of your blog readers comments. Their participation can provide you with valuable information as to whether or not you are meeting their needs. Another way to see how your current setup is doing is perhaps a more pleasurable one. Once you see an increase in sales, you can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that for now, your plan is working in your favor. Just keep track of these things on a regular basis, to make sure your current lineup continues to be successful. Participate and Interact When planning your social media s position in respect to your business, it s important for you to ensure your interactions will be accepted positively by your online audience. You want to provide them with honest, helpful and genuine resources which can be helpful to them, either personally or for their own businesses. This means spending time researching hot topics, promoting your findings with those whom could benefit from your new knowledge. Be a leader in new topics, or try to answer someone s questions. By having this personal interaction with those who frequent your social media platforms, you are not only helping them with their own personal situations. You are providing yourself with a presence online. This presence is one your readers, customers and potential clients will Quick-Start Guide to Social Media and Your Business Page 8

9 grow to appreciate, and knowing you re aware of what s going on and reaching out to provide guidance or clarification whenever needed shows a lot about the kind of business you run. In a Nutshell Social media is such a versatile aspect of today s business world, it s hard not to apply what it has to offer to your personal and business dealings on a daily basis. The internet is the largest marketplace you will ever find in order to promote, advertise and publicize your own business, whether you are starting up a new venture, or you happen to be the head of a well-known corporation. With endless possibilities, social media marketing can only make things easier to get your message, or product known to an audience of unthinkable proportions. Instant messages across the country, blogs read internationally and countless combinations of platforms can easily multiply your branding. Your goods and services are now able to be offered worldwide, with a few clicks of a mouse and some time learning about these essential business tools. You may start out using only a few of the different sites mentioned here, but don t feel you need to limit your choices to just those few. By adding more options to your marketing strategy, you are simply providing yourself with that much more exposure. And ultimately, more exposure is your ticket to online success. Quick-Start Guide to Social Media and Your Business Page 9

10 Was founded on the principal that individuals and companies need to be prepared to succeed in these turbulent times. Blair Evan Ball is a sales, marketing and social media professional. Also as a speaker, writer, and blogger, he combines his passion for photography with his internet marketing strategy for individuals and businesses. Blair has worked for companies both small and large. He has worked with for profit companies as well as not-for-profit. Companies are struggling with a new trend: People using online social technologies to discuss products, write their own news, and find their own deals. This groundswell is global. It s unstoppable. It affects every industry. Harvard Business Review We ve moved from the Information Age to the Recommendation Age, and you must get active now or risk falling further behind. Smart business owners are keeping pace. Contact me today. Contact Information: prepare1@comcast.net Quick-Start Guide to Social Media and Your Business Page 10