Social Media, it’s been the talk of the town for the past 10 years. At first, it was a novelty, posting photos of what you had for dinner and letting friends know where you were. I remember my friend saying her Grandson had just nudged her into signing up for Twitter and what a waste of time she thought it was. Little did anyone know what the power of a tweet on Twitter could become.
Then along came Facebook, which took over from My Space as that platform began to wind down. I was in a training class at New Horizon in Irvine, polishing up on my Microsoft Office skills when I was introduced to Facebook. Never thinking it would become the place where I worked!
In this “new” arena of social media, there are actually people who earn a living as media stars. Posting makeup videos on YouTube, becoming Facebook personalities. It is mind-boggling. So what has this got to do with you and your business? Plenty. If you haven’t already begun social media campaigns, and you aren’t sure what to use each of them for, read on. These are just some hints to start with, there is so much more..
This social media channel has more than one billion users from around the world, and these users are so active that they share one million links every 20 minutes on the website. This is the largest opportunity for small online businesses and online businessmen with small budgets.
You can post, share, link, and download anything just with a single click. You can build your fan page for your online customers and talk to them in a friendly environment. You can share anything using the posting option and the best thing is that there are no limits of posts like Twitter.
Just remember, it’s called social media for a reason. Stay social and don’t get pushy or aggressive with your messages.
LinkedIn is among those social media websites that is perfect for your career promotion and to search for a good job. More than 300 million professionals use this website every day. There are businessmen, dealers, clients and professionals communicating on LinkedIn. You can recommend anyone on this website and build your online resume so that your brand or your name can be seen by everyone on the internet. You can list your skills, profession, interests, and anything that is related to your business or organization.
For companies looking to connect with other businesses, it’s a great place to share information. This is NOT primarily a social site. It’s professional. No photos of you in a tank top on the beach. Rather, share the information that is valuable to other business owners or career people. Again, pushing your products or services is NOT a good thing to do. Sharing insights, new methods of operating, information about products and services, is what you should do on LinkedIn. What you shouldn’t do is be one of those people who ask to connect with me, and then tries to sell me something. It backfires every time.
GOOGLE +
It’s good to be seen on here, if for no other reason than Google likes it when you share on their wannabe Facebook. It is a good idea to claim your place in Google and to ask your clients to post Google Reviews for your company.
Instagram is gaining in popularity as a business tool. The shortcoming is you can’t upload photos from your computer, you must do it from your phone. So unless you are someone who has the time to spend uploading content several times a day, it is probably not going to be as effective a tool as some of the other social media outlets.
This is a very powerful tool for businesses, but it’s also very time-consuming if you are going to do it right. You have to spend hours each day tweeting, following the right people, asking people or businesses to follow you, responding to tweets, and retweeting. It’s good to be seen on Twitter, but it’s not good when people discover that virtually no one is following your tweets and that you aren’t engaged.
There are plenty more social media outlets, and new ones popping up every day. For Realtors and Contractors, HOUZZ is the place to be. For small shops and retail outlets, PINTEREST is a good place to show your products and even offer them for sale.
Rather than spread yourself too thin and not do a good job, choose the channel that works for you and your business, and be consistent in your branding and your message.. An online presence is a necessity in these days of smartphones. Get a great website, share information on at least one social media channel, but remember to do quality work, or you will lose followers.
Social Cindy at your service.
#onlinemarketing #VeroBeach #SEO
