The right kind of posts

There are some things that you can post to more than one of your platforms - and I'm a great advocate of value-based content being shared across all your platforms - Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ - but you should also be posting focused content that works for that specific platform.

Twitter

Think of Twitter as a networking event where there are people you know and people you don't - and you can hear what they're all saying!  Standing in the corner listening, but not talking to anyone won't win you any brownie points at all.

Read what people say and respond - retweet things you like and share blog posts you think others will benefit from or enjoy.  Get into conversations, ask for help, help others - it's all part of being visible.

Facebook

Your Facebook personal account should be kept for personal stuff, but your Facebook Page is a great place to build a community.  However, remember that it's Facebook and, therefore, social.  That means that the content you post must reach people on that level.

Post images, add a message to the image, don't sell at people, but do include your brand somewhere.  Lots of text doesn't work so don't write long copy - even if you can!  Try and stay topical and keep it light.

LinkedIn

This is a business platform so you'll need to stay focused on business issues.  Post information of interest to business people and, on LinkedIn, you can get away with longer content - people are looking for information and prepared to read to get it.  

To get engagement use good headlines for your posts and updates.  Be visible in the groups where your ideal clients are active and be helpful, it's an opportunity to show off your expertise.

Google+

This sits somewhere between Facebook and LinkedIn with lots of people who are interested in the latest technology in conversation as well as a wide variety of others.

The biggest asset is the Google Hangouts as they offer an opportunity to get into live conversations.  Tip:  Don't start one without a clear agenda, but be flexible and go with the flow.  It's probably best to invite people before the Hangout goes live so you have an audience.

Pinterest

Image driven, but with a facility for up to 500 characters of text alongside each one.  To really make an impact here you need to be posting very high quality, innovative, stunning pictures that will make people sit up and take notice.

The purchasing power on Pinterest is much higher than on Facebook so don't miss the opportunity.  Think glossy magazine level images to be on target.

Of course, there are many more platforms - not least YouTube, Instagram, and Tumblr - and they have some clever little gizmos, like being able to load animated gifs and short video clips.  However, if you get these on target, everything else will follow.

Online marketing made easier

I say 'easier' rather than 'easy'.  Nothing worth doing is easy!  There are a ton of tools that can help, but the secret is in the front end planning.

It's easy to caught up with the popular myths:

'Twitter connects you to lots of potential new customers.'
'Facebook is a fantastic social way to sell your stuff.'
'People make millions on LinkedIn.'
'More people are listening intelligently on Google+.'

etc. etc.
These are all true to an extent, but only if you are quite clear about whether these platforms are right for your industry, your customer base and your objectives.

Start at the beginning

Sound sensible, but most small business owners tend to start in the middle.  I'll let you into a secret - I was one of them for YEARS!

Of course, I had done the management course and I knew:

• That I should start with a perfect client profile
• That I should have a strategy that had been thought through and was based on reality not guesswork
• That I should have proper projections and a plan of how to achieve them.  

The trouble was that is was difficult and I thought I knew the answers pretty much anyway.  Result:  the company struggled on and made a bit of money, but everything was hard work and we had to sweat blood to claw our way up the ladder.  Eventually I gave up and resigned - and the company bombed the following year.  Everyone lost money.

The morale of the tale is that, whilst these things are tough, doing them really does make everything else easier - online and offline.

Building the foundation for success

If you know what your perfect client looks like you'll be able to track them down online easily.  You'll be able to find out where they are active and engage with them on their terms.  It's all about relationships - not with thousands of random people, but with a few well-qualified potential customers.  It might take longer and require more effort at the front end, but it will take much less time and effort long term - and deliver a far higher success rate.

If you know where to find your ideal clients you'll be able to construct a strategy that delivers on your objectives.  This means you won't spend time on activities that are unlikely to reach the right people and can get laser focus on what really will work.  TIP:  Don't forget to include a means of measuring success in your strategy.

When you have targets for what you want to achieve and review and measure regularly you can adjust, tweak and revise your plan as you go instead of arriving at the end of your year and wondering why your turnover (and profit) is so much lower than you had hoped.  Don't hope - plan, measure, revise and rework.

Big business stuff for small businesses

This is the way that successful large organisations operate (some better than others) and how they drive their ongoing growth.  Take a leaf out of their book - even if you're a single person business - and you'll find you can actually plan your growth.

The online marketing recipe

When you put together an online marketing plan it can be easy to get wrapped up in social media, it’s such a responsive and powerful way to reach people, but don’t overlook all the other online marketing tools.

Whether it's turning blogs into article or ebooks or planning an email campaign there are many ways of using the internet to reach potential customers.

These are just a selection of the online marketing tools and what they can do for you.

Social media:                  Step one is to know where your target market is most active and get involved in the same places.  Twitter is pretty general and will reach most people, Facebook is good for local businesses and for businesses where the customer is an individual.  LinkedIn is a business platform and the power is in the groups – the right groups!  Google+ is great for informative posts on a wide range of subjects.  Pinterest is excellent for products, especially attractive-looking items – don’t forget to pin your images from your website, not upload direct from your computer.

Blogs:                             Blogging is an excellent way of demonstrating your expertise.  You can blog on your own website or a blog platform (Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad) or as a guest blogger on other people’s blogs.

Email marketing:             Direct messages on a specific subject to an opted in list of people.  To do this you must have permission from the person to send them promotional emails.  If they’ve signed up to your list this is usually part of the ‘deal’, but be careful about people who you’ve met at networking events, a business card is not automatic permission to send marketing information.

Newsletter:                     There are good newsletters and bad newsletters!  A good newsletter has real value for the reader and they will want to read the next one as a result.  A bad newsletter is boring, usually all about the writer and has no benefits for the reader.  Always lead with value (tip – use your blog as a lead article see www.3andahalfsteps.com).

Ebooks:                         If you’ve written a few blogs around a single subject collate and develop them into an ebook.  You can either give this away or sell it – check out listing your ebooks on Amazon’s Kindle listings.  Being a published author is great for your reputation and gives you a platform to demonstrate how much you know about your specialist subject, making you an Expert.

Press releases:                Writing a press release about a new member of staff, an award or new premises isn’t particularly interesting – you need a real story to get an editor’s attention.  Successful press releases are interesting to the target audience of the publication so know you publications well and don’t just fire it at every publication you can think of.  Local press may be easier to get into, but may not be read by your target audience.  Choose your publications and then talk to the editor about what kind of material they like.  There’s no guarantee of getting published, but at least what you send will be relevant.

Audio and video:            YouTube is the second biggest search engine – and is owned by the biggest, Google!  That means that it’s an excellent place to be seen, so if you’re into video material get your videos on YouTube.  Just make sure that they are not just sales pitches, give people interesting and useful material.  One of the top search terms on YouTube is ‘How to …’!  Audio only is also useful so if you do podcasts – or could – add Audio to your website, newsletters, etc.  With the sophistication of today’s smartphones you have a built-in recorder in your pocket and can interview people, commentate on an event or simply record your thoughts whilst out and about. Check out AudioBoo.com for more on this.

Webinars:                       This isn’t for everyone, but if you are good at passing on your knowledge to people get yourself a captive audience by creating and promoting a webinar on your specialist subject.  You can use platforms like GoToMeeting.com or a Google Hangout to do this and you don’t have to do all the talking yourself, ask one or more experts in related fields to your own to get involved.

These are just the main online marketing tools – and you’ll need to decide which ones are best for you and which you want to include in your online marketing strategy.  Good luck!