Now that you have a great new website you can just sit back and wait for your new clients to come rolling in, right?
Right? Okay, maybe not.
Business basics still apply, and you have to market your business to get customers. By using social media to promote your business, you’ll be using proven business basics with the most modern tools available.
In the brick-and-mortar world, you start a business, scout for a great location, and stock your store with the right people and products to serve your customers. On top of that, you have to let them know where you are, how you can help them, and when that help might be on sale. You might do this through newspaper ads, radio spots, direct mail campaigns, signs on your company vehicles, billboards, fliers, television commercials, business cards, brochures, sponsoring a local team, or even hiring a guy to hold a sign on the street corner to flag cars down.
The Internet carries all the same basic business and marketing principles as a brick-and-mortar business but uses different tools. Just as you would probably not employ all the techniques above in a brick-and-mortar business, you do not need to latch on to every new online marketing fad that comes around.
With options like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, YouTube, Linked In, StumbleUpon, Digg, blogging, forums, and email marketing, you may wonder if you’ll ever have time to actually work on your business when you finish your social media tasks.
There is a better way. Remember, it all boils down to basic business goals and a customer service plan. Once you have that in place, you can develop an easy-to-use online marketing plan that works for your business instead of working like an employee for your social media boss.
Develop a Social Media Strategy
Why do you want to use social media?
- Attract clients for your product-based business
- Attract clients for your service-based business
- Provide customer service online
- Build a platform for your speaking, music or publishing career
- Find a job
Where are your potential customers?
- Find the platform that works for them, not the one you like best.
- In a visual kind of business, video and photographs will make a huge impact
- A business focused on selling products to teens would do better with Twitter than Linked In
- Writers would use blogging to showcase their talents to prospective publishers
- Answering questions in a related forum will showcase your expertise and drive people to your service-based website
What are your specific business goals?
- Sell 10 widgets per week through online marketing efforts
- Get 10 signups a day for your email list so you can market to those people long-term for your more expensive product/service
- Create an online resource of solutions for your existing clients (and to prove to prospective ones that you have great customer service)
- Connect with 2 meeting planners a day about potential speaking engagements
- Get your resume in front of 3 decision makers a day
When you know how you want social media and online marketing to work for you, you will avoid the common pitfall of working for social media.
Get back to basics. Find out what you want, *then* choose the tools to help you get there.
We love to help clients brainstorm the options and create online marketing plans that work. Contact us now to see how we can work together.
Category : SEO &Social Media
