2012 Company New Year’s Resolution: Join the Social Media Revolution!

As 2012 takes off, many companies have resolved to finally take the leap into social media marketing. And why not? Social media provides smaller companies with the opportunities to market themselves in the same way major, global brands do. However, for small businesses with limited staff, the task may seem especially daunting as many questions undoubtedly loom. Where should we start? How do we start? How are Facebook and Twitter going to help my business? Who will take on the responsibility? Fortunately, social media is so accessible that the only thing standing in your way is, well, you!Ready to take the plunge?   Here are five tips to help any company get started:

1. Recognize the benefits and define goals. All too often CEOs and campaign managers are only concerned with how social media marketing will translate into revenue and ignore the other benefits. Often overlooked is the opportunity to connect with current customers and clientele, raise brand awareness and improve brand reputation, acquire feedback, crowdsource new ideas and products, and the list goes on.
2. Join the following five networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google +, LinkedIn, and YouTube.  It will only take a couple of minutes per network to sign up, and each is designed with step-by-step instructions to make the process as seamless as possible for even the most novice user. For companies skeptical about joining YouTube, consider this, according to Nielsen, 90% of all web traffic will be video by 2014. Make sure to take advantage of the vast pools of Internet users who frequent these networks, and secure your company’s name today.
3. Measure your results. Although there are many platforms through which to track social media data, Google Analytics will provide a panoramic view of your overall marketing strategy. This powerful tracking software is free and will diligently monitor website activity, visits from your social media profiles as well as other websites, visitor demographics and much more. This data offers insight into your customers, and measures the overall health of your marketing campaign, allowing you to rapidly respond to changes in consumer behavior, and to adjust your marketing strategy accordingly.
4. Add Social Media links everywhere you can and spread the word! Make sure to add your social media links to your website, blog, email signature, and business cards. Adding your social media links in all the aforementioned places will help grow your fan base in an unobtrusive and organic way.  Once your profiles are active, spread the word to give your profiles an initial fan boost; let your family, friends, and current clients know.
5. Outsource, if needed.  Finally, it is important to keep your fans actively engaged. Allowing your accounts to languish will be more detrimental than not having accounts at all. If you can’t find time to log into your profiles more than a couple times per week to post updates, communicate with fans, answer questions, etc., it may be time to consider outsourcing your social media to an Internet marketing firm.  For a fixed fee every month you can hire a social media management team adept in engaging audiences and promoting brands effectively (most often this is much more cost effective than hiring an additional staff member).  This team will represent your business and provide sales, marketing, client/customer service, and PR all in one.

Social media is an organic and essential part of business today. Long gone are the days when you would see your local shop owners daily and stop by for a chat, but as the world has grown bigger, it has also grown smaller again through the connectedness of social media. Your customers will be stopping by for a chat virtually, possibly from thousands of miles away, and they are talking about you to someone else possibly thousands of miles away in the other direction. You can’t afford to miss this opportunity!

Amy Grishman
Social Focus Marketing
working with Qdigitizing.com