Social media for business

There are opposing views about whether it's OK to use social media for business.

Of course, it's OK, there are no rules that say otherwise, but does it work?

Camp One says social media should only be used for 'social' activities and it's all about getting to know people, not selling your stuff.

Camp Two says that social media is a great way to promote your business, products, services, etc. and is not just social.

So who is right?  And who is wrong?

Camp One is right because it IS all about getting to know people and building relationships, not selling.

Camp Two is also right because social media is an excellent way to promote your business, products and services.

Camp One is wrong that social media should only be used for social activities - or LinkedIn would have failed back in 2003.

Camp Two is wrong in that if you ONLY promote your business etc. people will switch off.  Nobody wants to be sold at.

Confused?  No wonder!

It depends on what you are trying to achieve.  There are a number of purposes for using social media:

• To become a thought-leader
• To encourage people to visit your website
• To help people learn more
• To provide opportunities
• To get to know other people who may become clients, partners or advocates

These are not all exclusive, but each outcome needs to be approached in a different way, choosing the material and platforms that will get you the best results.

If you just keep posting 'buy our stuff', 'special offer on widgets; just $10 for 5000', 'we offer fantastic consultancy services for small business owners', you'll soon lose followers on Twitter, and won't get engagement on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and others.

However, if you post more engaging content e.g. 'Did you know that the auto industry uses 735.203 widgets an hour across the UK?' - with a link to an interesting blog on this subject, most people will:

a) read the post
b) click the link
c) follow/connect with you

Tips, advice, links, controversial statements, challenging concepts, interesting blogs and intelligent comments on other people's posts all attract attention and get links clicked.  (So don't forget to put relevant links into your posts so people can find out more on your website).

Broadcast only is not good news - engagement and conversation is the only way you'll start building relationships.  So, leave the camp and go out exploring in the social media forest!

Create systems that succeed

Online marketing is as much about systems as it is about activity.  Of course, you need to be active, but without a system that is sustainable you'll find your activity becomes inconsistent and then fades away.

The secret of a system is to plan what you want to achieve and work backwards.  For example:

• If you want to increase the number of followers you have on Twitter from 100 to 200, what do you have to do and how often to achieve that?  
• If you want to appear in more LinkedIn searches, what do you need to change on your profile and what activities will affect that outcome?
• If you want 500 people to sign up for your free report how can your persuade them to do so?

Once you have identified what needs to be done the next step is to work out how long these things will take to do and how often you will need to repeat them if they are things that are ongoing activities.  For instance:

• To increase your followers on Twitter you need to follow more people yourself - and they need to be the right people.  This means that you need to search for appropriate people and follow - say 20 new people - each day.
• To appear in more LinkedIn searches you will need to optimise your profile and to be more active in the groups where your target market are found.  Optimisation is a one-off activity so you will need to set aside half an hour to do that; activity in groups is a regular activity and you'll need to do that two or three times a week.
• Getting people to sign up for your report means tell more people about it, promote it on social media, ensure it's highly visible on your website, maybe in a pop-up and add it to your email signature and, perhaps, your business card.

Now you know WHAT to do, work out how long this will take and - this is the important bit - put appointments in your diary to block out the time and pop reminders up to ensure you don't let things slide.

After a while this will all become part of your daily routine and will just be how you work.  The best systems are habits that are almost automatic.

Three and a half simple steps to a successful online marketing system

If you're trying to use online marketing without spending hours in front of your computer then you'll love this system.  It's all about one blog going MUCH further than simply being posted on your blog page.

When you've put the effort into writing a blog it's madness to just post it on your website and then maybe send a couple of tweets out when it can work so much harder for you.

Here's what you need

• A blog facility on your website (or on a blogging platform like this)
• A Twitter account
• A Facebook Page
• A LinkedIn account (optimised)
• A Hootsuite account (if you really want to save time it's worth investing US$9.99 a month in a Pro account)
• A MailChimp account

Here's how it works

Step 1:  

Write a blog of around 300-500 words on a subject you're an expert on and share your knowledge.  Extract 3-7 soundbites from the blog

Step 2: 

Post the soundbites - with the blog URL to your Twitter, Facebook Page and LinkedIn account using Hootsuite (to save time and effort).  Spread them out over the course of a day or two.

Repost these every 2-4 weeks to keep traffic coming to your blog and website

Step 3:

Once a month take the best blog and create a newsletter in MailChimp.  Add titles and links for other blogs posted during the month and add your offer, promotions, etc to the end.  Email it to your list.

Step 3½:

Use the MailChimp sign up form on your website or blog to gather more people onto your list.

Because you're adding massive value by sharing your expertise people will appreciate your blogs, posts and newsletters and your list and reputation will grow.