Leveraging Social Media to Promote Your Business

Leveraging Social Media to Promote Your Business
By Josh Collins

Recently, there have been a lot of questions regarding how to use social media to market your business. Social media can be a powerful tool if used correctly and if your target market is receptive to your efforts. Simply becoming a member to a social media network is not good enough. So how do you get people to notice your business and is it worth the time it takes?

Can your business benefit from social media?

The main benefit of using social networks to promote your business is the low hard costs involved. Most social networks are free to join and you can be up and running in no time. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t going to take a lot of employee resources. In fact, in order to be successful you must commit a fair amount of time to manage your social networking accounts and be active in the online communities. Failure to do this will result in poor, if any, results. So plan on committing some resources to this project, and plan on keeping it going for at least 3-6 months to truly measure its success.

Another aspect to look at is whether your target market is part of these online communities. If you business is targeting consumers than chances are they are online. But what if you have a B2B oriented company. For this type of business you have to assess whether you can reach enough of your target to make a difference.

For instance: Acme Offset Printer Parts only operates in Kansas City and sells to businesses that own printing presses. They have a very small niche in a small geographic area and a product that is not generating any buzz. Social networking may not be a good fit for them. However if they were selling nationwide there may be enough interest in their industry to get a successful social networking campaign going.

How to start?

Just having a presence on social media websites is not enough. You should first decide what you have to offer. Are you trying to push a new buzz-worthy product? Are you trying to reach your existing customer base for news and updates? Are you trying to reach new customers that have an interest in what your business does? These are the questions you will need to answer before you can get started and know what network(s) you should be a part of.

Are you Buzz-worthy?

Do you have something that is buzz-worthy, such as a hip new product or a something that gets people really talking about your company? If so, your job will be that much easier. Starting a Facebook or Twitter page could really help get the word out. People on Facebook will start using your page to chat with one another about your offerings. This is why car companies and consumer based products often use Facebook for their marketing efforts. Being creative and using YouTube can really get some buzz generated as well.

Keeping your Customers Informed

If you have daily news that is of interest to your clients, then perhaps you sign up with Twitter to update your clients daily. Use your existing website traffic to drive people to your Facebook and Twitter accounts and vice-versa. You can even put your Twitter posts on your website to keep your website looking fresh and up to date.

The Rest of Us

If your business doesn’t have a lot of news worthy headlines or topics that you can constantly update your target of, then you may have to get creative. Figure out what you can do that would make people want to be your “friends” online. You may have to make a page and become other people’s friends first. Being active in their communities will make people want to “friend” you.

Sites like Linked in can be effective to utilize your personal networking ability. If you establish yourself as an industry expert you may be able to network with top-level executives one-on-one.

There are also social networks for lots of industries, joining these networks or forums could also help you get the word out. There is no magic bullet, but the most important thing is to stay active and upbeat.

Josh Collins is a multimedia designer in the Kansas City area. He has designed user interfaces and websites ranging from small business sites to large social network websites. His recent work include:

• Logicbright.com a web based contact management software
• Tekniq, an IT Provider specializing in Website Design in Kansas City

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