More Feasible Social Media

I recently answered the following question on Linkedin and thought you might be interested.

How can we make Social Media Marketing more economical and Feasible?

One tool that can help a lot is HootSuite. It’s free (for the basic features) and will allow you to easily post to and monitor several social media platforms from one location.

Additionally, for sending information out, I’d suggest having a blog. You can use the rss feed from the blog, hook it to HootSuite, and have it automatically send out new articles when you post them. It’s post one and done. You can also connect your Blog up to MailChimp and send out a news letter every week/month with your most recent posts.

You have three main goals with social marketing.

1) Bring people into your network (follow me, join my group, etc)
2) Deliver interesting information that your prospects and clients would be interested in
3) Answer questions and respond to people talking about you through these social media outlets.

Regarding bringing people into your network, you have passive solutions like having a link to your Facebook page on your website, and having a QR code on a sign that says, follow us. The active solutions are much faster, where you offer a discount or contest entry if they join a certain network. The best active solution is a viral contest, where the person entering the contest gets one entry for signing up and more when they send it out to their friends who sign up.

You will also want to allocate time for searching for people who you know, and adding contacts to your social networks.

Links:

How to Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Business

With more than 100 million users, LinkedIn is among the most influential social media networks for business professionals today. According to LinkedIn press, more than 2 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages, which shows that businesses all over the world are starting to see the power in this network.

LinkedIn provides the perfect platform for businesses to connect with other businesses, as well as potential clients or customers.

LinkedIn is not only for the big fish; it is equally useful and effective for small companies because it offers great tools, such as groups which assist in the much needed “networking” aspect of business.

Here are 3 reasons LinkedIn can be extremely effective for small businesses:

  1. Company Pages – Similar to Facebook Fan Pages, LinkedIn Company Pages allow businesses to set up a profile on the network. These profiles contain general information about business, such as their products, services, employee information, owner information, etc. Be sure to fill out all of the fields to give a thorough description about what your company and what it has to offer.
  2. Easy to Make Connections – All of the LinkedIn features, such as sharing, messaging, connections, and groups, make it easy for businesses to connect with others. In fact, it’s one of the best online sites available when it comes to “networking.” Unlike other social networking platforms that are all about connecting with “consumers,” LinkedIn is known for connecting businesses with “like-minded business owners.” Again, networking with fellow businesses in your industry – as well as other industries – can add a lot of value to your own company.
  3. More Search Engine Exposure – As you know, one of the most effective ways to capture the attention of local consumers is by coming up in the results for search terms related to your industry. LinkedIn pages are ranked in the search engines, which is another reason your business should establish a presence on this network. There’s no such thing as “too much” exposure, so LinkedIn is another web property you can utilize to gain more visibility in the search engines.

More Business Today Magazine

More Business Today Online MagazineI’ve started a monthly (potentially) online magazine. Please take a moment to click here and take a look. Your feedback would be very much appreciated.

In this issue of More Business Today online magazine, you can read about:

  • Goodbye Google Places, Hello Google+ Local
  • 5 Things Your Business Should Do Right Now To Profit From Facebook
  • Why YouTube is your secret weapon
  • 7 great reasons why your business should use Twitter
  • How to use Google + to give your business a competitive edge
  • And More!

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