{"id":105,"date":"2010-07-09T18:58:42","date_gmt":"2010-07-09T23:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steveholt.com\/home\/?p=105"},"modified":"2019-05-06T13:09:10","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T18:09:10","slug":"5-social-media-home-runs-for-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steveholt.com\/home\/?p=105","title":{"rendered":"5 social media \u2018home runs\u2019 for your business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is an article I published in our local hometown newspaper… some pretty basic advice on some easy things you can do to get started in social media:<\/p>\n

5 social media \u2018home runs\u2019 for your business<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are so many \u2018social media\u2019 tools available now, it is hard to get your head around all of them, much less use all of them.\u00a0 But there is no doubt that our society has embraced social media in all forms and eagerly participates.\u00a0 In fact, most people who participate in social media use multiple tools, not just one.\u00a0 So that presents many opportunities for you to reach your existing customers, plus some new ones.\u00a0 Here are 5 things you can do to use social media to promote your business.<\/p>\n

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  1. Create a Facebook \u201cFan\u201d page.\u00a0 Then provide content and information that is unique to your page, so that you offer something of value that they can\u2019t get anywhere else.\u00a0 Then make sure you stay active on the page, and respond directly to people who participate with you.<\/li>\n
  2. Yelp is the largest product\/company\/business review website.\u00a0 They had over 31 million visitors during the month of March 2010.\u00a0 There are iPhone and Android apps for Yelp, so people can find out about you using their cell phones, so what are they finding out about you?\u00a0 Go find out.\u00a0 Yelp lets you create an official business page, so you can tell you own story and respond to questions\/comments\/complaints.\u00a0 And while you\u2019re at it, here are a few more to work on\u2026. Merchantcircle.com, Searchlocal.com, Google.com\/places, Superpages.com, Yellowpages.com, Angieslist.com, and Local.yahoo.com.<\/li>\n
  3. Find a local community organization that needs help promoting themselves, or an event they are having.\u00a0 Use your social media outlets that you are currently using (Facebook, Twitter, blog, YouTube, etc) to help them promote.\u00a0 That will not only build goodwill for you, it will drive traffic to your social media outlets and provide you more opportunities to promote yourself.\u00a0 But be careful\u2026 promote their needs first, or you\u2019ll be seen as being only self-serving.<\/li>\n
  4. Make sure that you and your employees have an account on LinkedIn.\u00a0 LinkedIn accounts are almost guaranteed to show up high in search results.\u00a0 Plus, LinkedIn is free, so it is like free advertising that drives people to your website.\u00a0 Make sure that your business name, spelled correctly, is present on everyone\u2019s LinkedIn account page.<\/li>\n
  5. Finally, the number one mistake that businesses make when beginning their social media push is that they become lazy.\u00a0 Social media is a phenomenon because of the word \u2018social\u2019, not the word \u2018media\u2019.\u00a0 If you invite someone to a party and all they do is sit over in the corner of the room and not speak to anyone, you probably won\u2019t invite them back.\u00a0 If you are going to be involved in social media, then you need to be \u2018social\u2019.\u00a0 You must be actively engaged with your customers or it does more harm than good.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Social Media can provide you a tremendous outlet to grow your business, and most of it is free.\u00a0 But it requires a lot of time and effort, especially up front, to be done right.\u00a0 And never forget the first word.\u00a0 Become someone\u2019s friend first, then the business will follow!<\/p>\n