Don’t Want to Take the Dive into Social Media? That’s OK, Just get your Feet Wet!
Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 |If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
If you are a Small Business Owner the thought of Social Media Marketing can be very overwhelming. There are so many options out there for Social Media Marketing that the already very busy Business Owner might shy away from Social Media all together.Since Social Media is so important to see the true potential of your Web Business I want to show you some some ways that a Small Business Owner can start getting their feel wet to Social Media Marketing without taking a huge plunge.
Add Social Networking Buttons to your static Webpages
There is no reason that only Blogs should enjoy the benefits of Social Bookmarking buttons. Static Websites can benefit from this social media marketing activity as well. Social Bookmarking is a way that users can tag their favorite sites with different keywords which help them to organize the content. Tags help others find your content and to help search engines see your content.
Adding Social Bookmarking Buttons to a Web Page will make it very easy for someone to bookmark an article or product from your website. When a page from your website is bookmarked it makes it very easy for your webpage to be shared with others on the web. Plus, it is another way for search engines find a link to one of your webpages and spider your site.
Check out these Social Bookmarks. Choose which Social Bookmarks fit your Website’s content best.
Start Commenting on Blogs
Commenting on Blogs is a great way to get Incoming links to your Website. The more links you have coming in to your Website not only brings in new potential customers and clients, but it can also move you up in the search engines.
Making comments on Blogs is a great way to not only increase incoming links to your website, but it is also a way to get the attention of the readers reading the blog post and the blogger himself. If done correctly and often enough you might even become a known expert in your field or niche. Check out Lifehacker’s guide to weblog comments for lots of great Comment Tips.
Participate in Answer Sites
Participating in Answer Sites, such as Yahoo! Answers and Answers.com, is not only an excellent way to get links coming in to your site, but it is another wonderful way to become known as an expert in your field. Make a point to spend some time on one of the major answer sites and answer the questions that you know you have the correct answers to. Place a link to your site in your Profile and you will find not only will people look towards you for their answers, but they might even become frequent visitors to your site. This form of social media marketing is excellent if you are a service based small business. Choose an Answer site that you want to work with and spend at least an hour or two there each week to reap the true benefits of this type of Social Media Marketing.
For more information check out Yahoo! Answers, Answers.com,
Social Networking
Social Networking is a way of interacting with other people in a web community setting. These web communities can be niche specific (professional, dating, pets, friends to name a very few) or the communities can be very broad (StumbleUpon, Digg, MySpace). The whole point of any of these Social Networking Sites is to help form relationships between people with a common interest from all over the world.
For a Small Business Owner utilizing a Professional Social Networking site, such as LinkedIn, is so important. With Professional Social Networking sites you will be able to create your Business Profile which summarizes your professional accomplishments. Within your Social Networking Community you will be able to locate clients, find Business opportunities, search for jobs, discover connections, locate former colleagues, clients, and partners and locate other professionals with the same interests as you. It is very similar to Business Networking in your Local Community, but you are not limited to location. You will be networking with professional people from all over the world.
Check out some Other Social Networks not Mentioned above.
Have Customers Review you Online
The major search engines have come a long way when it comes to local search. Google supports searching by IP address. Which means that Google can target according to the geographical locale of the searcher’s IP address. This is great news for small businesses who make their living by selling items or services to people in their community or surrounding communities. If Google and the other major search engines have your Business in the local search engine directory it could bring you to the top of the search engines in your area for your keyphrase or niche.
To make sure that your business will appear in the local search for your area make sure to go to the following links and submit your Business address, phone number and other business information. Many people no longer use phone books to locate local businesses, they use the Web to find them. Make sure they can find you too. Click on the following links to Local Search Engines, Directories and Yellow Pages and enter your Business’s information.
- Google Local Business Center
- Yahoo! Local - Add a Business
- Localeze (MSN’s Partner) - Add a Business
- Local Search Guide - a list of local search engines, directory sites, and yellow pages
While you are adding your Business listing to the above Local Search Engines, Directories and yellow pages do a bit more research to see which of these also offer reviews. Once you have done that follow the simple steps below to have your customers review your business.
- Go through the listings above to see which have review capability.
- On a Postcard or Index card simply ask your customers if they would like to review your business. Make sure to include a link to one of the Local Search Review sites on the card. You can even offer them a coupon or discount off a future purchase for your review.
- Send these Review Cards out to your Customers.
Many of the above Search Engines, Directories and Yellow Pages will show your reviews next to your Business Listing. If you have great reviews this could bring you a lot of extra business.
If the thought of starting a Blog seems frightening at this point, but you wanted to participate in something that lets you stay in touch with your customers or clients… maybe Twitter is for you.
You don’t have to be a wiz at writing to use Twitter as you will only have 140 characters to get your point across. But with a bit of Networking on Twitter to find the right followers it might be the perfect place to announce sales, new products, or services. For more information on using Twitter as a Marketing Tool check out The Big Juicy Twitter Guide. Here Caroline offers you detailed information on how to use Twitter.
All of these Social Media Marketing Ideas are a wonderful way to get your business name out there, increase your incoming links, and increase traffic and sales. All of these Social Media Activities take some work. However, if your time is limited or you feel apprehensive about jumping head first into all the Social Media Activities that are out there, just try one of them and see how it goes. Get a taste of it. If you find you enjoyed it and it brought you increased traffic and/or sales maybe add another Social Media activity. You can do as little or as much as you would like. No need to feel intimidated by Social Media…. do it at your own pace.
Technorati Tags:social media, social media marketing, social networking, social bookmarking, small business
