Adding Social Media to Your Business – A Beginner’s Look

Been Lazy About Social Networking?

You’ve put it off as long as you can stand it.  Adding online social media to your business has been on your to-do list since the over-30 crowd started venturing onto Facebook, but it seems like a daunting task.  You?  Tweet? Perhaps you thought it best left to the likes of Ashton Kutcher, but let’s face it – these days businesses need a social media aspect. Your potential clients and customers expect it, and after all it’s not that scary.  We’ll walk you through the simpler aspects to get you started. Before you know it, you’ll be opening up your business, large or small, to a much broader and international audience.

Twitter:  I start here because although it may initially sound confusing, Twitter is probably the simplest social networking tool to handle once you’ve spent about 10 or 15 minutes playing with it.  Basic setup is easy and quick and tweeting is simple: You write something – anything – in 140 characters or less.  You can announce a sale at your shop, share a company goal, or talk about the weather.  And since you can add a link to your company’s website within your tweet, you’re able to share who you are with lots and lots of people who have found you on Twitter and have decided to “follow” you.  When you get an email letting you know you’ve got a Twitter follower, be sure and follow them back. It’s all about the give and take, and the more followers you have the broader your reach. You can check out our Twitter page to see who we’re following and who’s following us (right-hand column) for a quick and easy way to follow some interesting companies and HR professionals around the globe.

Facebook Fan Page:  If you already have  a Facebook account, then this one’s really easy.  Just visit someone else’s Fan Page (here’s ours) and click on the link in the bottom left-hand corner (Create a Page for My Business) to get started.  Facebook will walk you through the setup.  You’ll notice on our page we usually announce whenever we have a new blog article so our Facebook Fans will know it’s time to swing by for a visit.  But you can use the Facebook Fan page to announce whatever you’d like about your business.  You can add links, product photos, video of your unique machining processes, etc.  If you don’t have a personal Facebook page, you’ll need one to set up the Fan Page.  It doesn’t mean you have to jump into Facebook headlong, however. A simple personal page is fine – you don’t even need to open it up for others to get into unless you really can’t resist the temptation. The point here is to add a layer of contact with your business that many potential customers want and will be happy to use.

Forums: If you’d rather just talk back and forth and share your expertise, you may want to check out the world of forums.  It seems they exist for everything on the planet.  Let’s say your company sells cat toys.  Google “cat forums” and you’ll get 154 million (not kidding here) to choose from!  Pick a few out, sign up, and search for areas where you can comfortably discuss the subject with those who have left questions that you can answer, for instance.  While many forums poo-poo having you blatantly hawk your wares, you’ll still be able to share your knowledge and, when appropriate, mention your company products or services.  You may find you’ll get yourself a nice following within some of the forums, and that means yet one more way to effectively reach out.

Blogs:  Admittedly, you’ve got to really enjoy writing, or have someone in your staff who does, but having a corporate blog provides a great way to communicate with current and potential customers and anyone else in your business.  Again, share your expertise.  If you’ve got that cat toy company, you’ll probably want to blog about cat care, cat hair, cat pajamas, etc.  There are some fantastic corporate blogs out there that receive huge amounts of followers. Everyone from Southwest Airlines to Coca-Cola to (ahem) General Motivation Company have added blogging to their social networking repertoire.  You need not blog daily, but a once-a-week post can certainly add a fun and informative layer to a growing company.

These few suggestions just scratch the surface of adding online social media to your business, but they’re certainly good places for any company who’s ready to venture out.  The important thing is to start!  Even if you aren’t the sort to add your kids’ photos to Facebook, Twitter about your dinner, or blog about your family reunion, you’ll find a great advantage to looking at these networks as free and useful business tools.  And make sure to let everyone know once you get going! Put up Facebook and Twitter links on your website, add a blog link to your email signature, let customers know you’re out there in the forums.  Potential business is out there and it’s looking for YOU in these very places.  It’s just a matter of hooking up.