Many small and medium sized businesses are starting to understand the business development effectiveness of social media or social networking websites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Buzz and others. According to Globalspec’s latest report, Trends in Industrial Marketing 2010: How Manufacturer’s Are Marketing Today, 68% of industrial respondents “plan to increase spending on social media in 2010” and indicate that “Facebook and LinkedIn are the most popular social media applications being used.”
As stated in an article appearing at Mashable.com by Jennifer Van Grove Why Small Businesses Shouldn’t Take Social Media for Granted, the 2010 Business Monitor United States report — commissioned by UPS – indicated that among the general business population only “24% of respondents said they’ve received sales leads from social media, with just 1% citing it as a factor for business growth.”
The biggest fear among the “uninitiated” is a lack of understanding about how to get started, what to do exactly, and how to manage it over the long run. There is no doubt that managing social media is a time-consuming venture but one well-worth engaging in. If it’s within your budget, hire a professional to help you. If you are a maverick and ready to tackle it on your own then here are a few things to help you.
Start off slowly and discover ways to use all the available tools effectively. I recommend starting with LinkedIn and Twitter. Recently the companies joined forces (see my article Twitter and LinkedIn Forge New Partnership) to allow account owners to integrate their Twitter posts with their LinkedIn account so that either all of their posts, or just the ones they add the #in hash tag at the end of, would be visible to visitors who were interacting with their LinkedIn account profile.
Develop a strong profile on LinkedIn that really encapsulates who you are and what you do. Create one for each of your partners or senior staff members who have been with you for a while or those whom you are trying to introduce to your target audience groups. Include links to your websites and any blogs or newsletters you contribute to or that your business has. Invite your colleagues and clients to link to you. You can give the application access to your Outlook or Gmail, for example, to send requests to your contacts for you. It is also a good idea to include a link to the application on your web pages. Under the Settings tab at the top right of your LinkedIn account you will find instructions for managing a number of account items including adding your Twitter account.
As I stated before, you can elect to have all your tweets (posts to Twitter) visible on your Profile page at LinkedIn or you can post only those you would like to be seen by adding to the end of your post the following hash tag – #in – before you Tweet. Invite your colleagues and clients to follow you by adding a link to the application on your web pages and inviting them by email.
Tweet about your products, your services, new hires, promotions, expansion, the industry, what you read in the news that affects your clients, your views about your industry, or whatever you think may be of interest to your target audience groups. Attach links to your blog posts, white papers, case studies, and newsletters. Encourage your Followers to contact you or comment back. The idea is to start a dialogue that compels your prospective customers to contact you and to keep you in mind when they are in need of what you offer.
There is so much more to social media I could write a book. And maybe I will. But for now, check out an article I posted not too long ago about another free and useful online tool: Use Google Profiles to Boost Online Networking Opportunities.
Have fun!
