In the start of a new year a lot of us are either considering starting our own business or brainstorming new ways to market and interact with our customers and clientele. Its a daunting task and a lot of us don’t know where to start – especially if a tight budget is tapping us on the shoulder constantly, so we’re going to look at 5 Ways to Promote Your Business Online Today!
These are five, free things you can do in the social media marketing realm to start-up or keep-up your business in the public eye!
1. Start a Blog
Sharing and communicating information is what brings visitors to your site – you may have even found this blog post by searching for it in the same way! Customers appreciate attention and communication, so by articulating both in a friendly way, your blog may bring in repeat visitors or perhaps a new customer if the information you’ve provided has served its purpose.
A blog can be used for a variety of reasons – not just a journal. Some companies use their blog to broadcast news and events, some photographers and artists use them as a portfolio and other businesses use it as a FAQ-Customer Resource area. We recommend checking out WordPress, which has two solutions for you; a free, hosted solution at wordpress.com or a free, database solution for your own server at wordpress.org.
2. Join LinkedIn
Some claim that word-of-mouth, networking and ‘who you know’ still play vital roles in landing new contracts or target audiences. LinkedIn takes your entire working life’s little, black book and lays it out in a clean, professional way and allows you to reconnect with employers, coworkers, employees and make new connections with the people they know.
On LinkedIn you can also provide and receive recommendations or testimonials from your employers, employees, clients and customers. As well as having a personal profile, you can also create a company profile page in which other users can join and follow for news and information.
Check out the BE3Designs LinkedIn Company Page.
3. Sign Up for Twitter
You aren’t alone if you can’t quite figure out why Twitter is such a big deal, but the fact of the matter is that its one of the most popular sharing communities online today, so to not make use of it is silly if you are pitching, buying, selling or offering any types of services or products.
You can specify keywords in your tweets which other users can then track down by searching. For example, if you sell flowers and you tweet “#flowerssale at your floral shop”, then anyone searching for “flowers”, “sale” will find your tweet in the results page.
‘Follow’ BE3Designs on Twitter.
4. Make a Facebook Page for your Business
Assuming you’re already on Facebook personally, this shouldn’t be too difficult to set up (if you are an anti-Facebooker you may want to reconsider even if only for choosing to use it for business marketing and advertising purposes). More people everyday are searching for something on Facebook before even Googling® it, so having a Facebook Page can work as an advertising or marketing effort and communicate with its industry and market.
‘Like’ BE3Designs on Facebook to receive tips, tricks and information on Social Media Marketing endeavors and more!
5. Connect
The great thing about humans are their strong desire to streamline and make everything they do as efficient as possible – and it doesn’t stop at social media integration. In what we call “aggregation” we can connect everything we’ve done to work together.
Connect your Blog with LinkedIn
Your LinkedIn Profile Page has the ability for you to install Apps, including one that will feature your blog’s RSS Feed directly on your page. This means that everytime you update your blog, a link to your recent post will be updated on your LinkedIn profile automatically!
Connect Twitter with Facebook
You can Edit your Facebook Page to install a Twitter App which will connect both your Twitter and Facebook Pages together. This means that logging into your Facebook Page and posting a status update or link will automatically update your Twitter status with the same thing. Save your rocks, two birds with one stone!
Connect your Blog with Facebook (and in turn, Twitter)
In the same way you added the Twitter App to your Facebook Page, you can find apps for RSS Feeds (like what we discussed earlier about using LinkedIn in the same way) that you can install on your Facebook Page. This will allow your Facebook Page to automatically list links to your recent blog posts.
Final Thoughts
Before you go run off and do anything, sit down and consider a game plan. Social media is a tricky game to get into as your success depends on your ability to stay innovative and on top of the ball. You walk a fine line trying to maintain a level of personality and connecting with your fans and customers without seeming dry and trying to ram your product or service down their throats (it will only make them leave your Facebook Page or Unfollow you on Twitter).
Ensure your branding is spread across your social media outlets – that your logo, names, slogans and information are the same. Consider scheduling social media marketing into your routine and set aside dates or times to tend to your new toys! Keep your pages up-to-date and interesting.