So much social media; so little time. If you have an online business it can be easy to slip into the habit of responding to your friends’ posts on Facebook or “liking” the fact that Gina is drinking cocktails by the pool…the baby pool that is…and not using it to market your business.
Here are 21 useful tips, (why 21? Why not!) on how you can use social media to market your online business:
- Facebook: We all know we can create a Fan Page just for your business. Right? And if your answer is “yes” the next question is have you actually taken the time to do it? If you haven’t, create a Facebook fan page for your business now.
- Facebook: Entice people to “like” your business Fan Page by offering a coupon tab special that requires them to “like” you to get to the discount.
- Facebook: Do you have a “Welcome” tab on your fan page? They’re simple to set up and usually free to do. Just do a search on Facebook for “welcome tab apps” or search Google to find one. With the welcome tab you can have an option for people to again “like” you to get to the information on your page. Here is one that is user-friendly, free for one site, and has nice graphics and layouts: www.pagemodo.com
- Pinterest: Create an online Pin Board that is focused on the topic of your business. For example, if you are a virtual assistant you can “pin” things to a virtual assistant board regarding all the ways someone could use a virtual assistant.
- Pinterest: If you have a popular business blog you want to drive more traffic to, create a Pin Board for it. For example, for a book review blog pin pictures of your favorite books, the New York Times bestseller lists, friends’ favorites, etc. Also, make sure you have a link in your Pin Board directing people back to your book review blog. And don’t forget on your blog to add a “pin-it” button to all your posts.
- Pinterest: Have a “Pin It to Win it” contest.
- Google+: Create a personal Google+ account. Once you have done this start creating your “circles” and follow as many people that have similar interests to you and your business.
- Google+: Increasing in popularity, make sure you create a Google+ page for your business. Google+ is to your business what Facebook is to your personal life; essential.
- Google+: Create a weekly live “Hangout” where you discuss a topic of the week that will help your business owners be more efficient or offer tips and advice.
- Klout: If you haven’t heard of it yet, go ahead and sign up for an account. Klout basically tells you how much “clout” you have on the Internet in terms of your interactions with others and how you influence others. You can use it to add a list of influencers to your business and develop a new set of customers this way as well as brand your business.
- Twitter: A lot of business owners still don’t understand the concept of Twitter or why they may need an account. If anything, it’s just another avenue for the search engines to find you. Google’s bots crawl this site looking for fresh content every 15 minutes, so that should be motivation enough to create an account.
- Squidoo: Although this site has been around for a while now a number of people are still unaware of it; Google loves it so pay attention. It’s free to use and you can create “lenses” for your business. Great opportunity to market your business and they have all sorts of unique and creative tools for you to create your Squidoo lens.
- Ezinearticles: Another site Google sends lots of love too. This is an article directory that if you publish something resourceful related to your business Google is likely to find it.
- Ning: This is a social network site that allows you to create your own network for free. How about creating one for your business where you get together others who are interested in whatever your business is? Or how about creating a mastermind group for your business?
- LinkedIn: A professional network of business individuals and businesses with over 50 million users. Create a profile just for your business.
- Wikipedia: Did you know you can create your own business resource page on Wikipedia? You can and should.
- 43Things: A social network site that allows you to list your personal or business goals and puts you in touch with those that have your common goals.
- Xeeme.com: A place to organize all your business social profiles in one spot and engage with others.
- Flickr: Although you can’t openly promote your business on here you can create a profile for your business and post pictures of your products and services then join groups to network your business.
- Quora: A site that allows you to follow topics of those that are important to you and your business.
- Hootsuite: You can manage all your activity for your business social networks in one place as well as find out who’s talking about your business.
