Get Social
Many clients have been asking us about social media and how it can benefit their business. If you haven’t heard the term, you will. Social media has become more popular over the last year or two as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook has gained even more momentum with the general public. Believe it or not, these entertainment oriented social media sites have benefited businesses and paved a new marketing path.
So what are the benefits to social media and where should you focus your efforts?
The Benefits
The most obvious and exciting benefit of social media is that it’s free. Seriously, what better way to promote your business than free advertising. Social media also has a far reaching and almost viral aspect to it. People will share what you say (if you say it well) and ultimately promote and sell your business for you. It’s also a great way to network with people, or potential customers.
The Best Out There
Start with Linked In – it’s the premier business networking site out there. You’ll be amazed at the tools the site offers to free members. Theoretically, you would never have to pay for this site unless you get to a point where you need more than the free service offers.
Once you have a Linked In account, get on Facebook. It’s a lot like Linked In, but focuses more on personal relationships. Make sure you create an accurate profile and add plenty of information about your business. You never know who knows someone interested in your products or services.
Another one of the popular ones out there is Twitter. It’s the simplest out of the bunch. The goal of this site focuses on one question “What are you doing right now?” You can use this to do some one sentence promotions.
If you don’t have a blog, don’t wait any longer. Get out there and start one up. There are many blog sites out there, but we like blogger for it’s universal simplicity. Create a theme that revolves around your company and write content that’s short and sweet. And make sure you’re content is conversational, like a letter to a friend.
And don’t forget YouTube. Most people don’t see the potential of marketing their business on YouTube, but the possibilities are endless. Create videos or professional presentations about your business and upload them for millions of people. Again, you never know when someone will be searching for your services, and YouTube shows up on popular search engines like Google and Yahoo!
Finally, the most important thing to remember is be real and be creative when promoting your business. All these services are free so there’s no good reason for you to dismiss them. If they work for the Fortune 500 companies, they could work for you.
