A Crash Course in Social Media for your Business

Business development doesn't just happen, it comes from an investment in time and resources. Unfortunately many business owners just don't have that much free time to spare. When considering how best to market your business and spread your message, the first thing to decide is how much time you have to give to your marketing and what you are hoping to achieve from that investment?

The last year has seen a revolution in social media. There are so many ways to spread your message, we are in danger of drowning under a sea of sites offering to promote our product if we subscribe and spend our valuable time generating contacts and maintaining relationships.

How to use social media tools to your advantage?

Imagine a playground full of puddles....you only have to pick the one you want to jump in! Don't invest your time on a social media outlet that will not bring the results you are hoping for. Decide in advance what you are hoping to achieve from each social media tool, whether it is to increase your business profile, increase traffic to your site or generate new business from existing or new contacts. 

ARE Creative Crash Course

Blog - Google loves bloggers, for the simple reason that most will post new articles with keyword rich content on a regular basis.

1. Keep 6-8 articles already written and scheduled to appear daily.
2. Fill in any gaps between posts with recommendations, portfolio articles
3. Put a 'call to action' in a visible place on your blog
4. Create backlinks to other sites you like
5. Comment on other's posts and blogs
6. Set up RSS links to your social media sites so your blog article will automatically appear - ARE Creative articles go directly to our Twitter page, LinkedIn and Facebook business page
7. Link your site to blog directories such as BlogCatelog, Technoratti
8. Submit your blog to google blog search

LinkedIn - how up to date is your profile?

1. Put your collection of business cards to good use - contact your contacts
2. Add your blog site, google slideshow and business information
3. Don't forget to make regular updates including links to your site
4. Join groups of interest, start discussions and comment on other discussions

Twitter - get tweeting

1. Find your contacts on twitter
2. Feed your blog posts directly on to your twitter page
3. Tweet articles of interest to your twitter followers
4. Put your contact information and business on a twitter backpage

Facebook - do you have a business page?

1. Create one or a new facebook account
2. Link blog posts directly to your page
3. Ask contacts to 'like' or follow other pages and 'like' them

Hootsuite - making social media simpler

1. Pull all your sites together and operate from one page
2. Schedule your Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn updates in advance

These are tried, and tested, simple ways to ensure your business has a good online profile, just from some investment of time.

Which puddle will you jump in?

Worth a read:
Chris Brogan - A Simple Blogging Formula
The Pitfalls of Link Shorteners
Where Are You Directing Your Social Media Contacts