Creating a buzz using Social Media

Inspired by a reader's comment on a previous post, I decided to write about how to create buzz as a business in social media.

So where do you start?

Creating Presence

First things first. New businesses or even projects looking to promote on social media sites should do the following:

1. Create a Facebook page 
2. Create a Twitter account
3. Create a blog (Blogger and Wordpress are great options)
4. Create a Google+ account (while this is still growing and nowhere near the number of users as Facebook, Google is still the most searched engine and is a powerful resource) 
5. LinkedIn profile (create for yourself and link to your business' website)
6. Register for Google Analytics (register your website and all social networking profiles) <-- this tracks your hits and traffic

Create Content

After you setup your business or project's profiles on those social media sites, it's time to add the most important element: content.

The worst thing a company can do is create the profiles in these social networking sites, but then keep those profiles outdated and without solid content. This will get them nowhere.

Content reigns supreme online. Consumers, users and potential customers go online to find what they are looking for in a concise and efficient manner.

 

 Learn to write concisely and directly to capture their attention and encourage them to come back.

 

Remember to ALWAYS post and tweet relevant information to your cause, business, mission or industry - irrelevant posts and tweets will throw off your main focus. Make sure to always stay on topic!

Frequency

Here is the key to driving up traffic to your website, which is ultimately your goal in social media, along with getting your name out there. Many businesses may not get enough information or content out there, which is why they are not using social media to the fullest capacity.

Here are a few tips on how frequently you should update each profile:

• Twitter: every day, even multiple times
• Facebook page: at least every other day and you can link your tweets and blog posts on here as well
• Blog: create at least one unique post per week, with at least 2-3 hyperlinks within the blog text. This helps give credibility to your posting as well as linking you to other websites. Post this blog on your Facebook and Twitter profiles.    
• LinkedIn: at least once a day (you can cheat on this and post on LinkedIn and feed it directly to Twitter and you have a 2-for-1. 

Link, Embed, Link, Embed

Seems easy enough, but don't forget it! Link and embed videos and posts within your other profiles and website. The more you intertwine all your social media sites, the higher your website and profiles will show up on search engines.

Make sure to always post keywords that can help in SEO (search engine optimization).

Think of trying to combine and incorporate all your social media as one large entity. Use them for your business advantage.

Communicate with customers

It's important to engage in social media to create a presence.

With a business plan and/or marketing plan, you may have created a tag line or phrase that represents your company's goals; you can use that tagline as the sub-header in the blog, Twitter description and Facebook page to help communicate quickly, in one or two lines, what you're about and why they should follow or read.

A few more options

In an attempt to make this as easy as possible, I put the most helpful and popular sites, but there are hundreds of social media sites you can use. There is one area I didn't cover that can also be a great asset: micro-websites.  Digg and Stumbleupon are the two top sites that can help drive traffic. While it may not be the customers you are looking for, it's important to get out there initially as you funnel down to the customers you do want. There are pros and cons to using both. Here's a great article on weighing which one works for you: Digg vs. Stumbleupon.

If you do choose to use these, Eli Rose Social Media gives great advice and tips on how to do it successfully in their blog.

The last two social sites, I am hooked and obsessed with: Instagram and Pinterest. These are definitely picking up in popularity and usage by consumers. Depending on the business or project you are running, if you can take great photos, upload them in less than 10 seconds on each site and link them to your blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts, this can be a huge asset.

This may seem overwhelming and yes, it does take a lot of time initially, but this may be a great way for you to be on the forefront of networking for your new business and getting connected. On the other hand, there are many companies that can do this for you, but if you can avoid it, try.

There's a great article from Forbes on many of the social networking myths that can end up either wasting time or stressing you out that can be avoided.

 

Ready, set...Get Social!!!