Wylie recommends that businesses begin with two easy, practically cost-free steps. "A business can achieve online presence with nothing more than a WordPress blog and a Facebook business page," he says. "The tools are so simple, so easy, and free."
Social Media Success Tips
"For businesses with a large customer base, Facebook is the initial place to be," Wylie says. "For consultative companies, a business blog written by real people in conversational language is a great vehicle. Either tool, or both combined, let businesses provide evergreen responses to customer questions while developing customer interest and interaction."Wylie offers these tips:
- Be useful. Use social media to talk about more than just your business. Give local perspective, behind-the-scenes information, and advice outside the confines of your market niche. Provide long-term value and inspire repeat visits by adding links to places your customers would want to go for related information. Additionally, of course, provide a clear description of what your business does and how to contact you online and offline.
- Deliver value. Incentives, discounts and promotions provide site-visitor benefits, prompt repeat visits, and allow you to track customer interactions. Also consider adding value with online surveys (free through sites like SurveyMonkey) that let people voice and view opinions.
- Be consistent and conversational. Commit to keeping your social media sites routinely updated with short entries that are written as if you're talking to someone over the counter. Entries don't have to be perfect. They do have to be current and interesting to customers, otherwise people won't bother to check back regularly. The Three Ships Media blog is a good example of how you can spread writing responsibility among members of your business team.
- Be competitive. Do some online sleuthing to learn what competitors are up to in social media. Seeing that those you're up against are already online, growing their awareness levels and deepening their interactions with customers, may give you just the incentive you need to get started.
- Be relevant. As you build social media presence, Wylie says to continually ask yourself, "Why should people come to this site? What unique values and benefits separate us from competitors? Are we telling our story and demonstrating our distinction? Are we showing expertise in a non-salesy way? Are we delivering long-term value more than advertising messages?"
Answer yes to those last three questions and you have a formula for turning social media into the newest guerrilla marketing tool in your marketing arsenal.
© 2010 Business on Main by MSN
My first attempts using the Internet for marketing began nearly fifteen years ago. Using social media is a new experience. It changes and redefines itself constantly. Security is a problem that causes pause. You don't want to get to personal with your business representation as these social networks are continually being mined for information. But so are websites and emails.
If you haven't yet begun using social media, to help market your business, whether locally or more widely, whether products or services, then you may be at a disadvantage. This article provides a starting place to begin your consideration of what is required and what to expect.
